ANTH55a
Anthropology of Development
Last Updated 8/29/2017
Fall 2017 Tuesday and Friday 9:30-10:50
Dr. Derek Sheridan
Office: Brown Social Science Center 207
Office Hours: Monday 1:00-3:00
Course Description and Objectives
Examines from an anthropological perspective efforts to address global poverty that are typically labeled as "development." Together we will critically evaluate the enterprise of international development, questioning the motives and purposes that underlie the actions of wealthy countries, donor organizations, and expatriate development workers. At the same time, we will assess the outcomes that occur for the people and places that are the ostensible beneficiaries of development. While acknowledging that most transnational development efforts are motivated by a well-intentioned aim to improve the lives of impoverished people, this course foregrounds a critical ethnographic perspective on the actual impact of interventions in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and North America. Students will explore some of the humanistic foundations on which development initiatives are based, questioning the biases underlying concepts of rights, charity, and poverty itself, as well as the origins and consequences of these concepts. Privileging the perspectives of ordinary people in so-called developing countries, but also looking carefully at the institutions involved in development, the course relies heavily on ethnographic case studies that will draw students into the complexity of one of the greatest contemporary global problems: social inequality.
Broad development themes such as public health, gender, agriculture, the environment, democracy, poverty, relief and refugee issues, entrepreneurship, and South-South cooperation will be explored through readings representing a wide range of regions and cultures. In addition, the anthropological lens is turned back on development institutions, as students will read a number of ethnographic accounts of Western development agencies, and also assess the desires/practices associated with “non-Western” and/or “South-South” alternatives.Paramount among the objectives of the class is exploring the importance of culture as it relates to political economy and political economy as it relates to ethics. The course is organized around the premise that the intertwining of political, economic, and cultural processes is central to explaining the emergence and influence of the very concept of "development," the extent of popular aspirations for and dissatisfaction with development, and the successes and failures of development programs.
For students in anthropology, the course offers an opportunity to apply key theoretical concepts in the discipline to contemporary social problems. What is to be done? Why is it to be done? Who determines?
How do “cultures” change? Why do they need to change? Who changes? What is at stake? How do local and global interpenetrate? How much capacity do ordinary people have to resist, deflect or remake development programs initiated "from above?" What is "traditional" and what is "modern," and who decides? How do gender, class, race and other social positions of power and inequality affect development? How are they affected by development? For students in development studies, the class offers an "experience-near" approach to the study of development, privileging the cultures, voices, and perspectives of peoples who are ostensibly the beneficiaries of development programs. Class discussions will focus not only on critical perspectives, but also on anthropological contributions to what might be termed "culturally appropriate development."
Class sessions will be highly participatory. Regular attendance, completion of reading assignments before each class, and participation in class discussions are essential to the design of the course. Students will be expected to think critically and creatively about the reading assignments.
Learning Goals
-Be able to situate ideas and practices of “development” in historical perspective.
-Be able to recognize the assumptions about human behavior and social organization that underlie
many development programs and activities.
-Learn about the impact of capitalism and markets on local economies and communities.
-Know about the major development institutions and actors and the roles they play.
-Learn about the role that anthropologists play as practitioners in development, as well as the
specific insights and critiques of development offered by academic anthropology.
-Explore connections between sustainability and development.
Course Requirements
In addition to regular attendance and active participation, students will be expected to complete
the following requirements:
Reading and Discussion
You are expected to read the assigned readings and be ready to discuss them in class. On some occasions when we are reading long books (more than 200 pages), I will divide the chapters between students. While everyone is expected to finish the entire book, this will help you prioritize your focus.
To facilitate discussion, I ask everyone to post a short response to the reading on LATTE by 10PM the night before class. These responses should pose questions which directly engage the major arguments and/or examples provided by the author(s). They may address something you find particularly interesting, surprising, confusing, or frustrating about the reading. In each case, be sure to elaborate your points with reference to the text. The goal of the exercise is to help us pose good discussion questions, and this means that even if your response is more of a comment than a question, you should think about the comment in terms of the broader conceptual question it poses for discussion. The responses should be no more than a paragraph, but they should also be more than a few sentences.
In addition, please highlight quotes and passages from the reading which you find interesting and/or confusing. I may ask you to share them during discussion.
Response Papers and Leading Discussions
You are expected to submit two longer response papers (4-5 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font) to me during the semester. The first paper should address a topic from Week Two to Six, and the second paper should address a topic from Week Seven to Thirteen.The papers may be thought of as expanded discussion questions. They are intellectual responses to reading assignments. Response papers are not summaries of the reading - rather, they are an opportunity for you to use the readings as a springboard to express thoughts, grapple questions, and formulate intellectual reactions to the course material. Papers should be clearly focused with reference to the text. For some weeks, this will mean a discussion of a single book, and for other weeks, this will mean a discussion of several articles. Generally, a paperthat examines a single issue or question will be more successful than one which covers a wide range of ideas. Response papers related to particular readings must be turned in through LATTE by the beginning of class for the day the reading is assigned. Keep in mind that for the weeks we read a single book over several days, you should turn in your response on the last day (usually Friday) we discuss it.
You and other students writing response papers will also be asked to make brief introductions to the readings during that week’s classes, when possible using the response papers to develop issues and questions for class discussion.
You will not need to submit a regular discussion for the day you are turning in a response paper.
You will select the topic and weekthrough a LATTE form by September 8th. Keep in mind that the number of students writing on any one topic will be capped, so if there is a topic you are particularly committed to, be prepared to claim it early.
Final Research Paper
You will also be required to write a 10-12 page final paper, which will be an analysis of either: (1) an
ethnography that was not read by the class; (2) popular media and news coverage of a humanitarian
project or initiative; (3) a movie or book about a global development or humanitarian case study; or (4)
the aims and outcomes of a development initiative/charitable aid organization with which you are familiar. You should draw extensively on course materials to discuss your case study. You should consider the paper an opportunity to explore a topic or region of interest to you. Preliminary and final paper proposals describing the research topic and question(s), the significance, and a preliminary bibliography will be due Friday, November 3rd. The topic must be approved by me, and I may make further recommendations after reading your proposal.
By Friday, November 3rd, please submit to me (through e-mail) a short paragraph summarizing your intended paper plans.
The Final Paper will be due Friday, December 15th by 5 PM through the LATTE website.
Reflections
Class discussions are as much sites of knowledge production as the texts we read. As we end each week, you may have lingering questions or concerns about the reading or about the discussion, and/or you may have observations and insights. I therefore invite you to e-mail me after our Friday discussions. You are not required to do so, but I will take it into consideration at the end of the semester when calculating your participation grade.
Grading
Discussion Questions 15% (10%: 21 Questions Posted, 5%: Quality)
In-Class Participation 10% (5% Attendance, 5% Active Participation)
Response Paper One 20%
Response Paper Two 20%
Final Paper 35%
We will discuss “Quality” expectations in class for each assignment.
Four-Credit Course (with three hours of class time per week)
Success in this four- credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class.
Academic Integrity
You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity. Students may be required to submit work to TurnItIn.com software to verify originality. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university.
Keep in mind that in the research and writing process, you might unintentionally commit plagiarism if you paraphrase an author extensively without citation.Citation and research assistance can be found at LTS - Library guides.
Writing Skills
This is a reading and writing intensive course which I hope will be both challenging and awarding. Brandeis has multiple services available to help you succeed. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the Writing Center and/or English Language Programs.
Students with extra challenges
If you are a student with a documented disability at Brandeis University and if you wish to request a reasonable accommodation for this class, please see me immediately. Keep in mind that reasonable accommodations are not provided retroactively.
“Lids Down”
This course makes rich use of various kinds of media for learning, but in class the policy is “lids down” and devices stowed so we can create a better learning environment. Please plan on taking notes by hand and bringing hard copy of your material. If there’s something you think we should all see in class, email it to me, or better yet, upload it to LATTE. We often think we are skilled multitaskers, not distracting to others, and learn better when we type, but research now points to the precise opposite of such assumptions, and to decreased learning outcomes. If we will undertake a class assignment where devices will be useful, I’ll inform you ahead of time.
Readings
Course readings include books, journal articles, and occasionally websites/videos. Most materials will be available for reading and/or download on the LATTE website. The following books may be purchased from the Brandeis Bookstore. There will also be a copy on reserve for three hours at a time at the Brandeis Library. Some of these books are also available as E-Books on the Brandeis Library website. As a “Lids Down” course, keep in mind the advantages and disadvantages of hard copies/print-outs versus online reading. At minimum, bring a good set of printed notes with quotes/page references.
Escobar, Arturo. 1995. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Benton, Adia. 2015. HIV Exceptionalism: Development Through Disease in Sierra Leone.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Bourgois, Philippe I., and Jeffrey Schonberg. 2009. Righteous Dopefiend. University of California Press.
Malkki, Liisa. H. 2015. The Need to Help: The Domestic Arts of International Humanitarianism. Duke University Press.
Elyachar, Julia. 2005. Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, Economic Development, and the State in Cairo. Durham: Duke University Press.
Ferguson, James. 2015. Give a Man a Fish: Reflections on the New Politics of Distribution.Durham; London: Duke University Press.
Course Outline
Be aware that the information on this syllabus is liable to change over the course of the class. Major changes will be announced, but if there is any confusion, please check LATTE for the most recent edition.
The indicated readings should be completed by the time of the class.
Friday, September 1: Introduction
Week One: Development, Discontents, and Anti-Politics
Tuesday, September 5
Easterly, William. 2006. The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. New York: Penguin Books. Chapter 1: pp 3-33.
Moyo, Dambisa. 2009. Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Preface (by Niall Ferguson) and Chapter 4: pp ix-xii; pp 48-68
McGovern, M., 2011. “Popular Development Economics—An Anthropologist among the Mandarins.”Perspectives on Politics 9(2): 345-355.
Friday, September 8[Choose your Response Paper choices by today]
Ferguson, James. 1994. "The Anti-Politics Machine." The Anthropology of the State: A Reader.Gupta, Akhil, ed.Wiley-Blackwell. pp 270-286.
Ferguson, James (with Larry Lohmann). 1994. “The Anti-Politics Machine: Development and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho.” The Ecologist 24(5):176-181.
Richey, Lisa Ann, and Stefano Ponte. 2008. "Better (Red)™ than Dead? Celebrities, Consumption and International Aid." Third World Quarterly 29(4): 711-729.
Week Two: Modernization, Dependency, and Decolonization
Tuesday, September 12
Williams, Raymond. 1983. “Development.”Keywords. Oxford University Press. pp 63-65
Rist, Gilbert. 1997. The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. pp 47-80.
Rostow, Walt. 1960. “The Five Stages-of-Growth–A Summary.”The Stages of Economic
Growth: A Non-Communist manifesto. Cambridge University Press. (Online Version) pp1-7.
Klein, Christina. 2003. “Musicals and Modernization.” Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945-1961. University of California Press. Chapter 5. pp 191-222.
Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association. 1947. “Statement on Human Rights”
American Anthropologist 49(4):539-543.
[Optional] Geertz, Clifford. 1963. “The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civil Politics in the New States.”Old Societies and New States: The Quest for Modernity in Asia and Africa.Free Press.
[Optional] Fanon, Frantz. 1963. The Wretched of the Earth.Grove Press. “Concerning Violence”; “The Pitfalls of National Consciousness”: pp 35-106; 148-205.
Friday, September 15
Cullather, Nick. “A Continent of Peasants.” The Hungry World: America’s Cold War Battle against Poverty in Asia. Harvard University Press. Chapter 3: pp 72-107.
Rist, Gilbert. 1997. “The Periphery and the Understanding of History.” The History of
Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith. New York: Zed Books. Chapter 7: pp 109-122.
Nyerere, Julius Kambarage. The Arusha Declaration. pp 1-17. (Online Version).
Scott, James. 1998. “Compulsory Villagization in Tanzania: Aesthetics and Miniaturization.”
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New
Haven: Yale University Press. Chapter 7: pp 223 – 261.
[Optional] Cullather, Nick.“We Shall Release the Waters.”The Hungry World: America’s Cold War Battle against Poverty in Asia. Harvard University Press. Chapter 4:pp 108-133
[Optional] Wolf, Eric. 1982. “Crisis and Differentiation in Capitalism.” Europe and the People without
History. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp 297-309.
Week Three:Gender, Development, and Feminism
Tuesday, September 19
Boserup, Ester. 1970.Woman’ s Role in Economic Development. Chapter 9; Chapter 10: pp 145-161; pp 162-181.
Kabeer, Naila. 1994. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought.London: Verso. Chapters 1-4.
Mohanty, Chandra. 1988. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial
Discourses.” Feminist Review 30: 61-88.
Friday, September 22: NO CLASS
Week Four:Neocolonialism, Development, and Anthropology
Tuesday, September 26
Escobar, Arturo. 1995. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Preface, Chapters 1-3.
Friday, September 29
Escobar, Arturo. 1995. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Chapters 4-6.
[Optional] Benton, Adia. 2016. “African Expatriates and Race in the Anthropology of Humanitarianism.” Critical African Studies 8(3): 266-277.
Week Five: Humanitarianism
Tuesday, October 3: Brandeis Thursday (NO CLASS)
Friday, October 6
Ticktin, Miriam. 2014. “Transnational Humanitarianism.”Annual Review of Anthropology 43: 273-289.
Ticktin, Miriam. 2006. “Where Ethics and Politics Meet.” American Ethnologist 33(1): 33-49.
Fassin, Didier. 2007. “Humanitarianism as a Politics of Life.” Public Culture 19(3): 499-520.
Dahl, Bianca. 2014. “‘Too Fat to Be an Orphan’: The Moral Semiotics of Food Aid in Botswana.”Cultural Anthropology 29(4): 626-647.
Week Six:Development and Disease
Tuesday, October 10
Benton, Adia. 2015. HIV Exceptionalism: Development Through Disease in Sierra Leone. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Preface; Introduction; Chapters 1-2.
Friday, October 13
Benton, Adia. 2015. HIV Exceptionalism: Development Through Disease in Sierra Leone. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Chapters 3-5; Conclusion.
Week Seven: Drug Addiction and Poverty
Tuesday, October 17
Bourgois, Philippe and Jeffrey Schonberg. 2009. Righteous Dopefiend. University of California Press. Introduction; Chapters 1-5.