Aided Professionals: Professional Subjectivity and Development in the Solomon Islands

Abstract

At the core of International Aid and Development are individuals operating through webs of relationships and within multiple and dynamic discourses. The subjectivities of these individuals, their motivations, values, hopes and concerns, are significant factors in determining the nature of Development relationships and thus the outcome of Development interventions. This thesis investigates the professional subjectivities of a small group of public servants working for the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development in the Solomon Islands. The primary aim of the research is to explore the way in which professional subjectivity is influenced by, and influences, Development relationships in the Solomon Islands. The secondary aim of the research is to assess and compare two prominent theoretical frameworks for understanding the relationship between subjectivity and Development discourse: governmentality and grounded discursive analysis. Employing a reflexive ethnographic approach, the thesis made use of both primary and secondary data. Secondary research involved the review and analysis of literature on Solomon Islands political, social and cultural context, drawing on the author's personal experience of three years living and working in Solomon Islands. The primary research involved semi-­structured ethnographic interviews with ten staff of the Ministry of Education and the author's personal eflection on the interview material. The research findings provide insight into the constitution and manifestation of the participants' professional subjectivities, and demonstrated the complexity and multiplicity of discourses that structure the experiences of participants. The research findings highlight the need for a theoretical framework that gives prominence to participants' voices and recognises Development discourse as only one factor in shaping subjectivities. Applying the frameworks of governmentality and grounded discursive analysis to the research findings, the thesis concludes that the latter provides a richer understanding of the complexities of subjectivity and Development; that moves it beyond reified binaries of self and other and repressive notions of power, to offer much more constructive insights for improving Development practice.