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Accounting and post-colonial resistance: Affective ambivalence in the international development assemblage

Nelson Duenas

Accounting, Organizations and Society2025https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2025.101607article
FT50AJG 4*ABDC A*
Weight
0.48

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the understanding of resistance in accounting research. Using the case of a Southern Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and its relationships with donors within the international development assemblage, I discuss how the organization, in experiencing mixed feelings towards its donors' managerial discourses and accounting practices, engages in a process of resistance. Such resistance operates amidst a processual interplay of attraction and repulsion towards the colonial opposite. Using Homi Bhabha's Postcolonial Theory (PCT) and its emphasis on the affective dimension in colonial encounters, I find that the NGO's actions are nestled within hybridity and ambivalence, which drive the NGO towards balancing opposing forces to move forward in the assemblage. I contribute to accounting literature by offering an affective understanding of the ambivalence produced by postcolonial relations mediated by accounting, and by reconceptualizing resistance in accounting research as a flux of affects with political implications in shifting relationships. HIGHLIGHTS • Resistance in accounting is re-signified as a processual interplay between attraction and rejection of colonial practices. • The parallel engagement of the subjugated with attraction and rejection shapes its identity and influences its agency. • Accounting creates ambivalence by leading the subjugated to experience ambiguity towards the colonizer’s practices. • Affective charges in donor-NGO relationships help to maintain the parties' cooperation overtime.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2025.101607

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@article{nelson2025,
  title        = {{Accounting and post-colonial resistance: Affective ambivalence in the international development assemblage}},
  author       = {Nelson Duenas},
  journal      = {Accounting, Organizations and Society},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2025.101607},
}

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Accounting and post-colonial resistance: Affective ambivalence in the international development assemblage

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Evidence weight

0.48

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.41 × 0.4 = 0.16
M · momentum0.63 × 0.15 = 0.09
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.