Taking (anti-)‘woke’ seriously: the future of development cooperation and humanitarian aid

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dc.citation.issue5
dc.citation.volume43
dc.contributor.authorMawdsley E
dc.contributor.authorBanks G
dc.contributor.authorSanyu C
dc.contributor.authorScheyvens R
dc.contributor.authorOverton J
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-21T21:44:19Z
dc.date.available2025-09-21T21:44:19Z
dc.date.issued2025-08-21
dc.description.abstractPurpose This article examines the Trump administration’s ‘war on woke’ as a key narrative in dismantling USAID in early 2025, arguing that its cultural framing is politically significant alongside material and geopolitical impacts. Approach Drawing on Project 2025 and a Lonsdale and Black blog as examples, we explore how ‘woke’ is cast as a threat to US values and interests. Findings Cuts disproportionately harm women, children, and marginalised groups, while emboldening conservative actors globally. Anti-‘woke’ narratives gain traction from inequalities produced by neoliberal globalisation; liberal aid arguments have lost voter appeal. Reclaiming ‘woke’ in its original sense offers opportunities for justice-based development approaches. Value Foregrounding the cultural politics of aid, we call for structurally oriented, globally connected solidarity that engages alienated domestic constituencies and addresses racialised inequalities in North and South.
dc.description.confidentialfalse
dc.edition.editionSep 2025
dc.identifier.citationMawdsley E, Banks G, Sanyu C, Scheyvens R, Overton J. (2025). Taking (anti-)‘woke’ seriously: the future of development cooperation and humanitarian aid. Development Policy Review. 43. 5.
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/dpr.70031
dc.identifier.eissn1467-7679
dc.identifier.elements-typejournal-article
dc.identifier.issn0950-6764
dc.identifier.numbere70031
dc.identifier.urihttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/73584
dc.languageEnglish
dc.publisherJohn Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of ODI Global
dc.publisher.urihttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dpr.70031
dc.relation.isPartOfDevelopment Policy Review
dc.rights(c) 2025 The Author/s
dc.rightsCC BY 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectanti-woke rhetoric
dc.subjectauthoritarianism
dc.subjectBlack consciousness
dc.subjectcritical race theory
dc.subjectdevelopment cooperation
dc.subjecthumanitarian aid
dc.subjectLGBTQI+
dc.subjectpolitics
dc.subjectracial dynamics
dc.subjectracialised inequality
dc.subjectTrump administration
dc.subjectUSAID
dc.subjectwokeness
dc.titleTaking (anti-)‘woke’ seriously: the future of development cooperation and humanitarian aid
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.elements-id503014
pubs.organisational-groupOther
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