Professor Wellington W. Nyangoni

Kutz 133A

Telephone: 781-736-2091

Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 1:30– 3 PM; Thursdays 2– 3 by appointment

Classroom: Kutz132

ECONOMICS OF THIRD WORLD HUNGER

AAAS 60a – Spring 2018

M, W: 3:30 – 4:50 pm

DESCRIPTION: This course will employ the tools of social science, particularly economics, to study causes and potential solutions to problems in production, trade, and consumption of food in the underdeveloped world. The first half of the course will be lectures while the second half will comprise a mixture of lectures and discussions. There are no prerequisites though some background knowledge of economics will be helpful. The first two weeks will be devoted to the introduction of basic concepts of economics and theories of development and underdevelopment. The following six weeks will be used to introduce a number of specific topics central to the study of food in the Third World, focusing on each topic upon the usefulness of the simple tools of analysis introduced in the first two weeks. Topics will include marketing institutions as they relate to the import and export of food and other agricultural programs. The last section of the course will be built upon case studies, drawing upon ideas and conceptual tools used earlier in the semester.

REQUIREMENTS: Students are required to keep up with the assigned reading for each class. Readings consist of both introductory and specialized, analytical texts and journal articles. The class sessions will cover topics and interpretations presented in the readings as well as additional materials introduced by the instructor. The classes will combine lecture and discussion. Students will be called upon to comment extensively on the assigned readings or other aspects of the lectures and are encouraged to ask questions and to contribute to discussion.

  • Mid-term, Take Home examination due March 14.
  • 1 oral reports based on term paper topics: 2/26 – 2/28.
  • Term paper (15 to 20 pages), due April 18.
  • Final Take Home examination due4/25.

You may work with another person on one country; but no more than two people should work on the same country in order to provide a wider range of evidence for the seminar participants to consider. The term paper should use the problem solving approach (i.e., embody it in the basic outline of the paper):

1)Define the nature and scope of the problem of hunger in the country of your choice.

2)Critique the alternative theories purporting to explain the problem of hunger in relation to the country you have chosen; and, on the basis of analysis, formulate your own hypotheses as to its causes in that country.

3)Outline the evidence available relating to the country to show that it is consistent with your hypothesis (if it is not, you will have to revise the hypothesis).

4)Propose an approach to solving the problem of hunger in the country.

5)Suggest how the approach adopted should be monitored to ensure that it will be revised as new problems (inevitably) arise in the course of its implementation.

Course grading is as follows:

Term papers40%

1 oral report10%

Mid-term examination15%

Final examination25%

Class participation10%

If you have a documented disability and would like a reasonable accommodation made for you, please see me immediately after class.

Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another—be it a world-class philosopher or your lab partner—without proper acknowledgement of that source. This means that you must use footnotes and quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet, or created by another student.

Violations of University policies on academic integrity, described in Section 3 of Rights and Responsibilities, may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, and could end in suspension from the University. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, you must ask for clarification.

If you are working in a group that I have authorized, I will expect your answers to resemble those of your partners; otherwise I expect you to do your work separately from your friends, classmates, family members, and so on. You are not permitted to have anyone other than your professor help you on written assignments outside of class. If you have questions on the type of help you may receive, please ask me before you seek help from someone.

REQUIRED READING: The books listed below are required for this course. These books are available in the Brandeis University Bookstore. All required readings have been placed on reserve in the library. Reading assignments designated as “reserve” must be obtained at the reserve desk.

  1. Annette Desmarais, Hannah Wittman and Nettie Wiebe, Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community:Pambazuke Press, Cape Town 2010
  2. Dip Kapoor (Ed) Against Colonization and Rural Dispossession: Local resistance to colonization and rural dispossession in South and East Asia, the Pacific, and Africa: Zed Press, London 2017
  3. UdayaSekharNagothu: Food Security and Development: Country Case Studies, Routledge 2015
  4. MachikoNissanke and MunaNdulo, Poverty Reduction in the Course of African Development, Oxford University Press, 2017

RECOMMENDED READING:

  • Henk Bakker, Food Security in Africa and Asia: Strategies for Small-scale Agricultural Development. CA International 2011
  • Wellington W. Nyangoni, The Politics and Economies of Food Security in Developing Countries, Msasa Publications, 2000

WEEKLY OUTLINE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

Weeks 1 & 2: January 10

Introduction: Class goals and Reequipment

January 10: No classes, Martin Luther King Holiday

Weeks 2 - 3 January 17, 22, and 24

State of Hunger in Developing Countries (Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean).

  1. What is Economics?
  2. Relationship between economics and hunger
  3. The ways starvation is related to hunger and colonization

Reading:

  • Annette Desmarais, Hannah Wittman and Nettie Wiebe, Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community: Chapters 1 and 2
  • Dip Kapoor (Ed) Against Colonization and Rural Dispossession: Local resistance to colonization and rural dispossession in South and East Asia, the Pacific, and Africa: Chapters 1 and 2
  • Udaya Sekhar Nagothu: Food Security and Development. Chapters 1 and 2
  • MachikoNissanke and MunaNdulo, Poverty Reduction in the Course of African DevelopmentChapters 1 and 2

Week 4 and 5: The World Food System: Economic Policies

1/29, 2/7 and 7

  • Economic Policies
  • Economic Theories that explain hunger and solutions
  • Neoliberal Theories – Bretton Wood (IM, World Bank, GATT/WTO, Modernization)
  • Socialist Theories

Reading:

  • MachikoNissanke and MunaNdulo, Poverty Reduction in the Course of African DevelopmentChapters 3 and 4
  • Dip Kapoor (Ed) Against Colonization and Rural Dispossession: Local resistance to colonization and rural dispossession in South and East Asia, the Pacific, and Africa: Chapters 3 and 6
  • UdayaSekharNagothu: Food Security and Development. Chapters 1 and 2
  • Henk Bakker, Food Security in Africa and Asia: Strategies for Small-scale Agricultural Development. Chapters 1 and 2
  • Annette Desmarais, Hannah Wittman and Nettie Wiebe, Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community: Chapters 3 and 6

POST TERM PAPER TOPICS ON LATTE (February 5th)

Week 6 – 7: Government Policies on Food Security

2/12, and 2/14

  • What is food security?
  • Policies on food security
  • Capitalism and food security
  • Hunger a failure of the market
  • Hunger and land tenure system
  • Colonial economic policies and agriculture

Reading:

  • Douglas H. Boucher, The Paradox of Plenty: Hunger in a Bountiful World: Read part 1, 3 and 4
  • MachikoNissanke and MunaNdulo, Poverty Reduction in the Course of African DevelopmentChapters 3 and 4
  • Dip Kapoor (Ed) Against Colonization and Rural Dispossession: Local resistance to colonization and rural dispossession in South and East Asia, the Pacific, and Africa: Chapters 3 and 6
  • UdayaSekharNagothu: Food Security and Development. Chapters 2 and 4
  • Henk Bakker, Food Security in Africa and Asia: Strategies for Small-scale Agricultural Development. Chapters 3
  • Annette Desmarais, Hannah Wittman and Nettie Wiebe, Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community: Chapters 7 and 10

Weeks 7 and 8: Midterm Recess 2/19 – 23

No Classes

Weeks 9 and 10: Oral Reports. 2/25, 28, 3/5, and 7.

Post Midterm Questions on Latte 2/28

Week 11 and 12: Central Topics in Third World Hunger

  • Food Production and Supply
  • Food Policies
  • Staple Foods versus cash crops
  • Population growth and foreign goods
  • Foreign aid and food security
  • World Trade Organization policies and food security

Reading:

  • P. Rosset, Ray Patel and M. Curville, Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform: 2 - 8
  • MachikoNissanke and MunaNdulo, Poverty Reduction in the Course of African DevelopmentChapters 8 and 9
  • John Madley, Hungry for Trade: How the Poor Pay for Free, Zed Books 2001. Read Chapters 1 – 9
  • Wellington W. Nyangoni, The Politics and Economies of Food Security. Chapter 1 - 9
  • Dip Kapoor (Ed) Against Colonization and Rural Dispossession: Local resistance to colonization and rural dispossession in South and East Asia, the Pacific, and Africa: Chapters 3 and 6
  • UdayaSekharNagothu: Food Security and Development. Chapters 2 and 4
  • Henk Bakker, Food Security in Africa and Asia: Strategies for Small-scale Agricultural Development. Chapters 3
  • J.A. Rorbacher, Hunger and Poverty in South Asia: Chapter 5 – 8

Weeks 13 and 14: Comparative government Policies on Food and Hunger 3/5, 7, 12, and 14

  • Colonial Era
  • Independence Era
  • Food Marketing for the elite and poor Urban versus rural areas
  • Foreign versus domestic food consumption
  • Agribusiness and exported markets
  • World Trade Organization and Neoliberalism

MIDTERM EXAM QUESTION 3/12

Reading:

  • Dip Kapoor (Ed) Against Colonization and Rural Dispossession: Local resistance to colonization and rural dispossession in South and East Asia, the Pacific, and Africa: Chapters 9 and 15
  • Douglas H. Boucher, The Paradox of Plenty: Hunger in a Bountiful World: Read part 1, 3 and 4
  • MachikoNissanke and MunaNdulo, Poverty Reduction in the Course of African DevelopmentChapters 10
  • UdayaSekharNagothu: Food Security and Development. Chapters 2 and 4
  • Annette Desmarais, Hannah Wittman and Nettie Wiebe, Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community:ChapterS

Week 15 – 16: Documentaries. 3/14, 19 and 21

Readings to be given in class.

Week 17 and 18, South to South Agricultural Markets 3/26, 28

  • The BRICS
  • The African Union and Regional Markets and Africans Trade with China, India, Latin America and the Caribbean

Week 19: Passover and Spring Recess: No Classes March 30 – April 6

Week 20: Global Market 4/9 and 11

Post Final Exam on LATTE on April 11

Week 21 – 22 Oral Report/Presentations 4/16, 18 and 23

4/25 (April 25 is Brandeis Friday)

April 26 Last Day of Instruction

Week 24 – April 30 Examination Period

Term Paper Due April 18

Final Exam Due April 25

The Professor will keep his office hour during the exam period