Course Format and Requirements
This course is first and foremost an ANTHROPOLOGY course. Therefore, I expect every student to engage seriously with the theoretical and ethnographic content of this course, and I will assume a basic anthropological background. We will spend considerable time exploring what socio-cultural anthropologists have to offer and say about 'development,' and therefore your grade will depend on the extent to which you engage with anthropological concepts and material.
This course will include lectures, discussions, guest lectures, films, and an interactive role-playing experience. Attendance is mandatory at all course activities, and the only excused absences are for family or health emergencies (with proof). Please note that we will have TWO CLASSES OUTSIDE OF NORMAL CLASS TIME. If you cannot make these classes, you will be assigned an alternative writing project. In order to get the most out of this course, it is necessary that students arrive at class prepared - this means having done the assigned readings before the class session. It will certainly negatively affect your participation grade if you are not well-prepared for each class session.
My policy on late papers is that I do not accept them, although I will make an exception if you are willing to receive a lower grade. So, for every 24 hour period your paper is late, you drop a full grade from the grade I feel your paper would receive if it were not late. For example, if your 'A' paper is one day late, you will receive a 'B.' If you turn a paper in late and expect to receive a non-reduced grade, you must provide evidence of an emergency.
Students will be graded in the following areas:
Class Attendance, Participation and Discussion Papers 20%
'The Big Catch' Exercise and Evaluation 20%
Paper #1 30%
Final Paper 30%
For each scheduled discussion session that we have, you will turn in a 2-3 page summary/critical review of the readings for that particular discussion session. These will be due at the end of that class discussion (no late papers accepted). Over the course of the semester, there will be five assignments. The purpose of these writing assignments is to help you conceptualize in advance the critical issues for that particular class discussion. Therefore, the critical review should (1) outline the main ideas and arguments of the text (or texts) and (2) be followed by questions, commentary, assessments, analysis, protests, opinions, or any combination of these. You will not be graded in terms of their quality - only based on the fact that you turn them in. The penalty of not turning one in on time and in class will be that you lose a whole grade in your participation grade (i.e., miss one, drop from A to B for overall participation grade; so if you miss four, you get an F in participation, no matter how much you added to class discussions). In other words, turn them in on time, and you have nothing to worry about. When possible I will comment on them.
There will be several opportunities to make presentations. For 12 of you, there will be an opportunity to earn extra credit and fulfill your presentation requirement by acting in the class play, 'Sergeant Ola and his Followers.' For the rest of you, you will either participate as expositors in a class debate on the dilemmas of hydrodevelopment in Quebec, or sign up to give 5 minute presentations either summarizing the recommended readings for that particular class or summarizing how mainstream development organizations (such as World Bank, IMF, UNDP, USAID, WHO, Interamerican Development Bank, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, European development agencies, etc.) approach the issues that are listed on our course schedule. Your performance in these presentations will count in your participation grade.
The first course paper, due Fri. October 22, will be a 10-page analytical essay on a theme related to development in the Third World. Although it will be based on research outside of our course readings, you must refer at least once to course readings in this paper. Furthermore, you must refer to a class lecture, discussion, or other activity at least once in this paper as well. We will discuss possible themes for this paper in the first weeks of the course.
You will also be evaluated in the context of our experiential exercise, 'The Big Catch.' You will be graded in terms of your individual contribution to the group's public presentation, and in terms of the post-exercise written material. This exercise will be a 5-7 page paper responding to the issues raised in the exercise and the group presentations, due on Wed. December 1.
The final course paper, due Mon. December 13, will be an 7-8 page response to a Survival International Urgent Action Bulletin, that I will pass out on the last day of class.
A note on writing papers:
In these days of computer-mediated writing, there are no excuses for the two following problems: 1) late papers due to 'computer crashes,' and 2) poor spelling. Regarding the former, claiming a 'computer crash' is the basically the same as telling me that your dog ate your homework. This is not a valid excuse if you are backing up your materials on diskettes. If indeed this has happened, I expect you to provide a note from a computer specialist explaining the problem; otherwise your late paper will be evaluated in terms of my late paper policy. Regarding the latter problem, use your spellcheck option - I will mark you down for poor spelling.