Postgraduate Course: Development: Principles and Practices (PGGE11211)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgraduate Courses (School of GeoSciences) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course aims to introduce students to the field of development by offering an overview its theoretical underpinnings, historical linkages, its inherently contested and ideological nature and how it pans out in contemporary practice. We start by appreciating the ways in which different ideologies have shaped understandings of development theories to glean the deeply political nature of various theoretical foundations underpinning development. It is intended to offer a working knowledge of how ¿development¿ has been shaped, where it is going, and why it remains complex and contradictory, and hence its practices contingent. The overwhelming objective of this course is not about how to do development but rather what it means to do development, as the latter helps appreciate the intersection between social justice and current preoccupations with development sans social justice. The course is structured to appreciate the academic endeavours around development theories and practices rather than as a vocational training unit on doing development. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Acquire advanced knowledge 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 scholarship on development and its contemporary practices, through written word and via debate, dialogue and conversation |
Assessment Information
There are two components of assessment within this course unit; one which is a group presentation and another which is an individual essay from a set of essay topics linked to the themes covered within the course. The group presentation will assess current approaches to development and is worth 40%, while the essay of 3000 words is worth 60%. You will also prepare a 1-page essay plan and include a 1-page reference list; these won¿t be assessed but written guidance and feedback will be offered.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
This is one of two core courses for the MSc in Environment and Development, and examines issues of environment and society with a particular emphasis on international dynamics relevant to developing country contexts. The related complementary core course is: Understanding Environment and Development. |
| Syllabus |
Guiding Principles:
1. Development and Disparity
2. Theories of Development (I)
3. Theories of Development (II)
4. State & non-State Actors
5. International Aid: Recipients to Donors
6. Social Movements & Participatory
Development
7. Global Governance & Stakeholder
Capitalism
8. Gender, Ethnicity & Vulnerability
9. Practical Activity (TBC)
10. Development: Which Way Now? |
| Transferable skills |
Critical thinking, intellectual problem solving and analysis of complex inter-related environment society problems, confident and well argued essay composition. |
| Reading list |
Bergeron, Suzanne (2004) Fragments of Development: Nation, Gender and the Space of Modernity Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
Chang, Ha-Joon (2002) Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective London: Anthem Press
Crush, Jonathan (ed.) (1995) Power of Development London and New York: Routledge
Escobar, Arturo (1995) Encountering Development: The Making and
Unmaking of the Third World Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.
Harvey, David (2005) A Brief History of Neo=Liberalism Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kabeer, Naila (1994) Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought London: Verso Books
Murray-Li, Tania (2007) The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development and the Practices of Politics Durham: Duke University Press
Rai, Shirin (2008) The Gender Politics of Development: Essays in Hope and Despair London: Zed Books
Scott, James (1998) Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed New Haven & London: Yale University Press
Background Text-Books:
Peet, Richard with Elaine Hartwick (2009 OR 1999) Theories of Development New York & London: The Guildford Press
Willis, Katie (2005) Theories and Practices of Development London and New York: Routledge |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Each three-hour time slot is broken up into two parts, a ¿lecture¿ and a seminar. While each session will start with a lecture to a particular topic, it will be followed by ¿ after a short break ¿ by a seminar. While the seminar content will vary, the general expectation would be that the students have done the assigned key readings so that there is an informed and knowledgeable basis for dialogue, discussion and debate. Since the course will attract a mixed group of students of various academic backgrounds and training, intellectual interests and orientation, work experiences, as a group our aim should be to make the seminar critically engaging, thoughtfully informed and grounded.
Seminars are likely to comprise of a range of activities ¿ reading and discussion groups, analysis of news items and documentary films, guest speakers and such. They are intended in part to support lecture themes, but also to allow you to think creatively, analytically and thoughtfully about debates in international development more broadly. The seminars will build upon the topic covered in the main lecture, or draw out an important contemporary issue related to the central themes of the lecture. The course may include lectures or seminars from guest speakers, which you will be informed about as they arise.
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| Keywords | Development theories, debates, practices and international challenges. |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kanchana Ruwanpura
Tel:
Email: Kanchana.Ruwanpura@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Natasa Honeybone
Tel: (0131 6)50 2572
Email: natasa.honeybone@ed.ac.uk |
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