Post development theorists argue that western development discourse, in the post Second World War period, colonized the minds of people living in the third world. This process of colonization, it is argued, has blinded third world people to the poverty of development discourse and ensured third world subjection to western economic and political ideas. In this article I analyse this proposition in relation to the people living on the Siki Settlement Scheme in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. I argue that the notion of discursive colonization implies a docility on the part of Siki residents. It is a conceptualization which infers settlers have been fooled by development rhetoric. In contrast to post development theory’s notion of colonization I argue Siki settlers actively and thoughtfully participate in the development process.
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