The Center Cannot Hold: Decolonial Possibility in the Collapse of a Tanzanian NGO

by Jenna N. Hanchey

Overview

In The Center Cannot Hold Jenna N. Hanchey examines the decolonial potential emerging from processes of ruination and collapse. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in rural Tanzania at an internationally funded NGO as it underwent dissolution, Hanchey traces the conflicts between local leadership and Western paternalism as well as the unstable subjectivity of Western volunteers—including the author—who are unable to withstand the contradictions of playing the dual roles of decolonializing ally and white savior. She argues that Western institutional and mental structures must be allowed to fall apart to make possible the emergence of decolonial justice. Hanchey shows how, through ruination, privileged subjects come to critical awareness through repeated encounters with their own complicity, providing an opportunity to delink from and oppose epistemologies of coloniality. After things fall apart, Hanchey posits, the creation of decolonial futures depends on the labor required to imagine impossible futures into being.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478024569
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	07/07/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	631 KB

About the Author

Jenna N. Hanchey is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Critical/Cultural Studies at Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  ix
Introduction. The Center Cannot Hold 1
Part I
1. Doctors with(out) Burdens  25
2. All of Us Phantasmic Saviors  58
3. Haunted Reflexivity  88
Part II
4. Water in the Cracks  117
5. Fluid (Re)mapping  141
6. Things Fall Apart  163
Conclusion. Rivulets in the Ruins  185
Notes  195
Bibliography  217
Index  231

What People are Saying About This

Power Lines: On the Subject of Feminist Alliances - Aimee Carrillo Rowe

“Jenna N. Hanchey is a brilliant storyteller, who leaves no theoretical or political stone unturned as she continually interrogates the relationships between selves and others in a complex contact zone. Her narratives of life at the Tanzanian NGO are well crafted, and her research site becomes a powerful location for her to examine her own positionality in relation to land, white masculinity, and the colonial context in which the myth of the white savior permeates every interaction.”

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

“A true work of unlearning for relearning! Erudite, lucid, profound, and successfully shakes the foundations of Western messianism.”

Editorial Reviews

“A true work of unlearning for relearning! Erudite, lucid, profound, this book successfully shakes the foundations of Western messianism.”

-- Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor and Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South, University of Bayreuth

"The Center Cannot Hold is an empowering and inspiring read relevant for audiences in rhetorical studies, critical cultural and media studies, international development studies, as well as for anyone who is seeking a deep engagement with the concept of reflexivity."
-- Faizat Oladunni Asifat Rhetoric Society Quarterly

"Jenna Hanchey’s The Center Cannot Hold stands as a vital critique of the persistent onslaught of theoretical and conceptual innovations by western theorists entrenched in neoliberal assumptions that are, by design, doomed to fail African lands, peoples, knowledges, and futures. . . . Hanchey’s interdisciplinary text emerges as a welcome contribution that promises significant use and value for scholars across disciplines, levels of inquiry, and theoretical orientations. It also serves as a valuable resource for non-academic activists, educators, and professionals involved in community planning and development."
-- Liahnna Stanley Quarterly Journal of Speech

"The Center Cannot Hold is . . . in equal parts deeply moving, theoretically savvy, and filled with many vivid and engrossing descriptions, many readers will find the book and the arguments it makes eloquently written."
-- Kundai Chirindo Quarterly Journal of Speech

"Rhetorical scholars have a lot to learn from Hanchey’s impactful ethnographic work. She challenges rhetorical scholars to take risks with their methodology and to open up the spaces for the canon to fall apart in order for decolonial possibilities to emerge. This is not an easy task for western subjects who have been socialized to view the Global South as a desolate place and the people there devoid of theory. I believe this book will have a lasting impact on the emerging field of African communication studies, rhetorical studies, and organizational studies."
-- Godfried Asante Quarterly Journal of Speech

“The Center Cannot Hold offers unique insight into the rhetoric of both neocolonialism and decolonization as she considers her own experiences in and out of an NGO in Tanzania. . . . Hanchey's scholarship teaches us that collapse can be generative, or even productive; that often for change to happen something needs to give.”

-- Allison Pujol E3W Review of Books

“The Center Cannot Hold offers an extensive and original perspective on the operational difficulties faced by NGOs in postcolonial contexts. Hanchey’s work is stimulating, provocative, and timely.”

-- Felicity Sena Dogbatse Rhetoric & Public Affairs

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