“An island of the Third World”? Decolonization, solidarity and the critique of development during the long Sixties at the Institut Africain de Genève

This is an article based on the first chapter of my PhD thesis, and grew out of a workshop hosted in 2024 by Severyan Dyakonov and Burak Sayim, titled Cold War internationalisms of/in the decolonizing world. My manuscript reflects the state of my research at the time, and while some aspects have since evolved, it still gives a good introduction to my thesis. For more nuance and perhaps also engagement with the wider literature, you'll have to wait for what hopefully will become a book. Below you find the article abstract.

This paper examines the transformations at the Institut Africain de Genève (IAG; later Institut universitaire d’études du développement, IUED) during the long 1960s, juxtaposing the tenures of its first two directors, Henri-Philippe Junod (1961–1962) and Pierre Bungener (1962–1975). Transcending its founding premises, IAG became more than a training facility for government officials; it evolved into a site of critique and experimentation. The article explores how engagement with the concept of the Third World led to a critique of Eurocentric development models. Internationalist in outlook, these critiques framed struggles in the Third World as intimately linked to exploitative economic and asymmetrical political structures benefiting the West.

You can read the full article (open access) by following this link. For the introduction of the special issue, see here.