Doctors Without Burdens: The Neocolonial Ambivalence of White Masculinity in International Medical Aid

Abstract

Drawing from rhetorical field research at a nongovernmental aid organization in rural Tanzania, this essay investigates the relationship between U.S. hegemonic masculinity and neocolonialism in international aid work. Based on an analysis of how two different groups of U.S. medical students relate to their Tanzanian translators and patients, I demonstrate that aid provides a forum whereby hegemonic white masculinity can escape domestic crisis through a neocolonial fantasy of paternalism and control. At the same time, aid can also provide opportunities to decolonize international relationships through destabilizing hegemonic masculinities. Ultimately, I argue that international medical mission trips display an ambivalent space, inextricably caught up in both the recentering of white masculine dominance and its destabilization.

Keywords:

• Africa
• international aid
• masculinity
• medicine
• neocolonialism
• rhetorical field methods

Acknowledgments

This essay is adapted from a chapter of the author’s dissertation. The author thanks Joshua Gunn, Dana Cloud, Kristen Hoerl, and Graham Slater for their help and advice, as well as the incredible insights of the two anonymous reviewers who assisted in making the import of this essay clear.

Note

Notes

1 To protect the anonymity of participants, all names provided in this essay are pseudonyms.