ABSTRACT
The possibility of producing a de-colonized, postcolonial knowledge in development studies became a subject of considerable debate in the 1990s. Despite this, however, it is only in the past decade or so that there has been any meaningful dialogue between postcolonial and development studies. At the time of writing, there are two ongoing and unresolved political issues involving former European colonial powers that help explain the importance of postcolonialism, as well as its imbrications with development. Traditional histories have focused on the roles of the likes of William Wilberforce, a lone abolitionist voice in Parliament who persisted in introducing antislavery motions over a period of 18 years until his campaign was successful. However, the formal British commemorations in 2007 acknowledged for the first time that there were also black leaders of the abolition movement, such as Olaudah Equiano. Problematizing language is a fundamental aspect of postcolonial approaches.
