Homegrown Internationalism? Challenging Epistemic Dialogue in Africa's Development Cooperation

Homegrown concepts are increasingly viewed as indigenous alternatives to challenge long-standing Western hegemony in development co-operation and insert non-Western agency. Drawing on two African cases from Ghana and Rwanda, this article develops a framework to demonstrate the strategic ambiguity as...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Matthew Sabbi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-08-01
Series:Africa Spectrum
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397251337092
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Summary:Homegrown concepts are increasingly viewed as indigenous alternatives to challenge long-standing Western hegemony in development co-operation and insert non-Western agency. Drawing on two African cases from Ghana and Rwanda, this article develops a framework to demonstrate the strategic ambiguity as Global South states seek influence in their international encounters. While the two countries closely follow the existing logic of development co-operation, they subtly challenge its dominant epistemology. Rwanda's Imihigo -driven donor self-assessment forum and Ghana's Sankofa -informed diaspora investment forum are two cases of similar but different concepts that typify the simultaneous coupling of indigenous and co-operation norms for international leverage. Together, they highlight the power and limits of homegrown concepts to drive the South's agency in the international arena of co-operation.
ISSN:0002-0397
1868-6869