But I Meant Well: Unlearning Colonial Ways of Doing Good

The book is written for those who want to “make the world a better place”, to lessen misery and inequality through careers in fields like global health, humanitarian aid, nonprofit charities, and harnessing market forces for good.

The author, James Thomas, has worked in global health as an epidemiologist and ethicist in more than 40 countries. Not content to be just an academic, he founded an organization in East Africa that sought to provide an alternative to the typical donor-recipient model of nonprofits. Early in his career, he became aware that as a White male descendant of colonial settlers, many modern social systems, including those claiming to improve the world, were created by and for people like him. He came to see that he had uncritically adopted colonial narratives and methods. Inspired by Kenyan novelist, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Thomas sought to decolonize his mind, a process he describes as unlearning colonial ways.

Those who read this book will be guided on a similar journey. Drawing from a wide variety of disciplines - including sociology, history, religion, philosophy, economics, psychobiology, and political science - Thomas presents a jargon-free narrative that draws the reader in. Students of public health, social work, medicine, nursing, business and more will find the journey not just informative but personally and professionally transformative.