Postgraduate Course: Society and Development (PGGE11050)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgraduate Courses (School of GeoSciences) |
Other subject area | Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies) |
| Course website |
http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/masters/ed_info/ |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course provides a theoretical foundation for understanding the relationships between development and society. It is intended to give a general, working knowledge of where ¿development¿ has been, where it is going, and why it has encountered so many problems along the way. The overwhelming objective of this course is think about what it means to do development, as opposed to learning how to do development.
The course begins with a brief introduction to the history of development thought, beginning in the 1970s. This background is vital for understanding how development thinking has been shaped over the past forty years and why people continue to try to formulate new understandings of the processes through which development proceeds. This provides us with a foundation for one of the core questions we will ask throughout the course, namely, what is development? Can we foster development, and if so, how?
Equipped with this theoretical foundation, we spend most of the course examining some recent trends in development, including the role of the state in development, the turn towards neo-liberalism and market approaches to development, conflict and violence and how they intersect with development, migration, and urban development. The course concludes by looking at the topic of 'Land Grabs' which serves to bring together all the themes in the course. We unpack what is popularly called land grabs to explore how it is linked to previous processes of dispossession and capitalist investment in land.
Throughout the course, we examine some of the 'new' development powers: China, India and Southeast Asian countries and critically examine some of the disquiet over what are perceived to be different cultures of assistance. Are these new powers really 'doing development' any differently than it has been practiced in the past by the more traditional development powers in Europe and North America? What are the consequences of this entrance of new actors onto the development stage for the people who are the subjects of development?
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: 40 |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| Central | Lecture | Lecture | 1-11 | 14:00 - 17:00 | | | | |
| First Class |
Week 1, Monday, 14:00 - 17:00, Zone: Central. Ogilvie Room (2.05), Geography Building, Drummond Street |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Acquire advanced skills for developing a reasoned arguments by evaluating, interpreting and providing a critique of complex evidence;
2. Understand the relationship between theory and practice, both in a 'development' context and in the formulation and conduct of academic research;
3. Begin to develop an appropriate academic writing style and method;
4. Learn to critique and comment on development-and-society (and development-and-environment) scholarship, both in the written word and in conversation.
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Assessment Information
10% -- 300 word abstract + bibliography of essay topic
90% -- 3,000 word essay
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Recommended Texts
Crush, J. (ed.) (1995) Power of Development
Hansen, T. B. and F. Stepputat (2001). States of Imagination: ethnographic explorations of the postcolonial state. Durham and London, Duke University Press.
Hettne, B. (1995) Development theory and the three worlds : towards an international political economy of development, 2nd edition
Jessop, B. (2007). State power: A strategic-relational approach. Cambridge, Polity Press.
Li, Tania Murray (2007) The Will to Improve. Durham, Duke Univ Press.
Nederveen Pieterse J. (2001) Development Theory. Deconstructions/Reconstructions
Peet, R. and E. Hartwick (2009) Theories of Development. Contentions, Arguments, Alternatives
Tsing, Anna (2005) Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton, Princeton Univ Press.
Useful 'Readers'on Development (short overviews of core topics, authors, thinkers)
Clark, D.A. (ed.) (2006) The Elgar Companion to Development Studies
Corbridge, S. (ed.) (1995) Development Studies. A Reader
Desai, V. and R.B. Potter (ed.) (2002) The Companion to Development Studies
Sachs, W. (ed.) (1992) The Development Dictionary. A Guide to Knowledge as Power
Simon, D. (2005) Fifty Key Thinkers on Development
Key Journals (all available electronically)
Agrarian Change
Development and Change
Development Policy Review
Journal of Development Studies
Journal of International Development
Journal of Peasant Studies
Oxford Development Studies
Economic and Political Weekly
Studies in Comparative International Development
Third World Quarterly
World Development
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | PGGE11050 Development, society, economies, poverty, policy |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mrs Samantha Staddon
Tel:
Email: v1sstadd@staffmail.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Natasa Honeybone
Tel: (0131 6)50 9975
Email: natasa.honeybone@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2012 The University of Edinburgh - 31 August 2012 4:26 am
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