Decolonising Development, Episode 41

Ceteris Never Paribus: The History of Economic Thought Podcast

• Guests: Rahul A. Sirohi (Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati) and Sonya Surabhi Gupta (Jamia Milia Islamia)
• Host and Producer: Maria Bach (Walras Pareto Centre, University of Lausanne)

In this episode, I talk to professors Sirohi’s and Gupta’s book on development discourses from India and Latin America.

As mentioned in the episode, here is the poem translated at the beginning of the last chapter:

Problems of Underdevelopment

Monsieur Dupont calls you uncultured
because you cannot tell who was
Victor’s Hugo’s favourite grandson.
Herr Müller has started to scream
because you do not know (exactly)
the day that Bismarck died.
Your friend Mr. Smith
an Englishman or Yankee, I cannot tell,
becomes incensed when you write Shell.
(It seems you leave out an “l”
and, what’s more, you pronounce it chel.)
Okay, and what of it?
When it’s your turn,
make them say cacarajícara
and ask them where is the Aconcagua
and who was Sucré
and just where on this planet
did Martí die.
And please:
tell them to always speak to you in Spanish.
Nicolás Guillén


Trans. by Rahul Sirohi and Sonya Surabhi Gupta