ABSTRACT
A constant struggle of teaching global development, particularly at Master level, is encouraging students to consider development workers’ positions in the structures and power dynamics that stabilize global injustices. In this chapter I argue that Sustainability is an excellent concept for considering the disjunctures between development’s ideals of empowerment and local ownership; and the practices and reporting structures that empower voices from the Global North and development professionals. Utilizing a case study from Malawi to critique practices justified through sustainability, I use critiques of sustainability to open space for students to engage with texts that are particularly critical of development apparatuses and discourse. Through encouraging students to consider how they will be incentivized to downplay local critiques, I aim to highlight the inherently political nature of development as a project.
