Kulturens makt
En postkolonial analys av Sidas kulturbistånd
The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the ideology behind Sida's cultural aid by using postcolonial theory. We want to analyse the discourse on cultural aid that is found mainly in Sida's publications. The interpretation of the sources is made with a hermeneutic base and by using postcolonial theory in combination with Paul Ricoeur's theories on the function of ideology: 1. ideology as distortion, 2. ideology as legitimation, and 3. ideology as integration. Since Sida - the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation - works with former colonies and gives most of its cultural aid to Africa, we have chosen to have a special focus on traces of colonial ideology in Sida's discourse and on ideas about African culture. A postcolonial perspective means focusing on certain themes like colonialism, neocolonialism, cultural imperialism, ethnocentrism, "the Other", the image of Africa, identity especially cultural identity and national identity, cultural hybridity versus cultural "authenticity" and globalization. Sida's discourse on cultural aid can also - or even foremost - be seen as expressing ideas on Sweden and the Swedish national identity. Whereas the general Swedish development aid discourse has a modernizing ideology which usually uses Sweden as a norm, the discourse on the cultural dimension of aid has a tendency to promote a view on African culture that is culturally conservative or anti-modern, and contrary to the normal habit of expecting countries receiving aid to follow in Sweden's footsteps. It stresses the need for African culture to be "traditional" and - thereby - "authentic". We see this as an ethnocentric discourse on African culture, which says more about the Western need of a "cultural Other" than about Africa.