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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Social and Political Science : Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies)

Postgraduate Course: Interpreting Development: Institutions and Practices (PGSP11296)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Social and Political Science CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course develops a foundation for the critical analysis of institutions and practices in the field of international development drawing on case studies from across the world. It examines the tensions and contradictions arising out of the interaction between institutions and practices. Practices implementing, contesting and resisting development interventions are shaped by institutions (i.e. organisations and rules of the game) but they also influence these institutions in turn. The course examines the practices of various key actors ranging from bilateral and multilateral development agencies to civil society groups, NGOs and individuals. Engaging anthropological and sociological studies, the course tracks how the meaning of development is constantly interpreted, contested and negotiated in often unforeseen ways.
Course description Course Outline:
Week 1: Institutions and practices: Introduction
Week 2: Key concepts
Week 3: Practitioners and academics: Uneasy relationships
Week 4: Ideologies and practices: Bilateral development assistance
Week 5: Ideologies and practices: Multilateral institutions
Week 6: Flexible Learning Week
Week 7:The state as object and agent of development
Week 8: NGOS and the NGO-ization of social movements
Week 9: Women¿s empowerment
Week 10: Global health and international development: Maternal and Child Health
Week 11: Evidence and experiments in international development
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  100
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 10, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Interpreting Development Short Essay/Blog: 25% of your grade will be awarded on the basis of a 1,000-word essay/blog. The question for this assignment will be released in Week 2. The feedback for this assessment will be given before the deadline for your essay.

Interpreting Development Long Essay: 75% of your grade will be awarded on the basis of a 3,000-word essay, chosen from a list that will be released in Week 5.
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Show a robust knowledge of diverse organisations involved in international development, their evolving mandates, policies and practice.
  2. Have a critical, analytical understanding of how knowledge is created and contested by a variety of organisations in international development.
  3. Possess an interdisciplinary understanding of how principles, ideals and ideas shape development practice, and are shaped by it.
Reading List
Indicative readings:

Arce, A. and N. Long. 2000. Anthropology, Development and Modernities: Exploring Discourses, Counter Tendencies and Violence. London: Routledge.

Lewis, D. and D. Mosse, eds. 2006. Development Brokers and Translators: The Ethnography of Aid and Agencies. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.

Long, N. 2001. Development Sociology: Actor Perspectives. London: Routledge.

Mosse, D. ed. 2011. Adventures in Aidland: The Anthropology of Professionals in International Development. New York: Berghahn Books.

Mosse, D. and D. Lewis, eds. 2005. The Aid Effect: Giving and Governing in International Development. London: Pluto Press.

Murray Li, T. 2007. The Will to Improve: Governmentality, development and the Practice of Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Gerhard Anders
Tel: (0131 6)51 3178
Email: Gerhard.Anders@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Teri Beveridge
Tel: (0131 6)51 3244
Email: tbeveri2@ed.ac.uk
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