The Philanthropic Gaze: Western “Generosity” as Scientific Neocolonialism

Abstract

This paper argues that elite Western scientific philanthropy, exemplified by programs such as the MacArthur Fellowship, operates as a sophisticated instrument of neocolonial control. Using the 2025 MacArthur “genius grant” awarded for a cultural research project in Madagascar integrating “embodied practices, like dance, into research and climate science” as a case study, this analysis deconstructs the power dynamics inherent in such philanthropic endeavors. We contend that by centering Western academic methodologies, defining research agendas, and anointing individual “geniuses,” these grants perpetuate the economic and epistemic dependency of the Global South. This diverts critical resources and attention away from structural solutions, such as resource sovereignty and debt relief, towards academic projects that primarily serve Western epistemological interests. This dynamic constitutes a form of “epistemic rent-seeking,” where Northern institutions extract cultural and intellectual capital from the South under the guise of benevolence. The paper concludes that achieving genuine scientific equity requires a fundamental shift away from the model of elite philanthropy and towards a framework of reparative justice and direct, unconditional funding for autonomous Southern institutions, recognizing that true liberation can only be achieved through political struggle, not charity.