Course Readings and Schedule
Note: All readings are either from required course texts or on reserve in the Bailey-Howe Library or the Anthropology Department office (509 Williams Hall).
Defining Anthropology and Development and/of/in the 'Third World:' Historical and Conceptual Precursors
Mon. 8/30: Introduction to the course, instructor's expectations, requirements, etc.
No reading
Wed. 9/1: The Anthropological Difference (and Dilemma)
Reading: 1. Esber, G., (1987) 'Designing Apache Homes with Apaches' in Wulff and Fiske, eds., Anthropological Praxis: Translating Knowledge into Action, pp. 187-196.
Fri. 9/3: Cultures and/of Progress
Readings: 1. Robbins, Chapter 1, pp. 1-34.
(Recommended) 2. Bodley, J. 'The Price of Progress.' in Victims of Progress, pp. 132-44.
Mon. 9/6: Labor Day (no class)
Wed. 9/8: Colonialism, Global Capitalism and the Invention of the 'Third World'
Readings: 1. Robbins, Chapters 2-4, pp. 35-144.
2. Rapley, Introduction and Chapters 1, pp. 1-26.
Fri. 9/10: Neoclassical Economics and Development Theory
Readings: 1. Rapley, Chapters 2-3, pp. 27-78.
(Recommended) 2. Escobar, A. (1988) 'Power and Visibility: Development and the Invention of Management in the Third World.' Cultural Anthropology 3(4): 428-43.
* [Class Discussion: Discussion paper #1 due] *
Development as (Economic) Progress: By Whom and For Whom?
The International Development Establishment
Mon. 9/13: Hunger, Poverty and Economic Development
Readings: 1. Robbins, Chapter 6, pp. 179-207.
Wed. 9/15: States and the International Political Economy of Development
Reading: 1. Rapley, Chapter 4-5, pp. 79-133.
Fri. 9/17: Film: 'Who's Counting?'
Reading: 1. Rapley, Chapters 6-7, pp. 135-81.
2. Irwin (1994) 'Banking on Poverty: An Insider's Look at the World Bank' In Danaher, ed. 50 Years is Enough: The Case Against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. pp. 152-60.
Special Evening Class: Mon. 9/20, 7-9pm 'Sergeant Ola and his Followers' (Note: no class during the usual daytime hour)
Reading: 1. Worsley, P. 'Cargo Cults' Scientific American 200(5): 117-28.
'In the Way of Development:' Hydro-Development and the Cree
Wed. 9/22: The Cree and Hydro-Quebec
Readings: 1. Niezen, Chapters 1-2, pp. 1-36.
(Recommended) 2. Robbins, Chapter 9, pp. 270-302.
Fri. 9/24: Film: 'Flooding Job's Garden'
Reading: 1. Niezen, Chapters 3-4, pp. 37-79.
Mon. 9/27: Class Debate on James Bay Project
Reading: Niezen, Chapters 5-6, Conclusion, pp. 81-139.
* [Discussion paper #2 due] *
Development Anthropology: Histories and Dilemmas
The Enterprise of Development Anthropology
Wed. 9/29: Applying Anthropology to Development Problems
Reading: 1. Gardner and Lewis, SKIM Chapter 1 (1-25), READ Chapters 2-3, pp. 24-76.
Fri. 10/1: Putting People First (Possible Film: Sangoma)
Reading: 1. Gardner and Lewis, Chapter 4, pp. 77-102, and Chapter 6, pp. 128-52.
Mon. 10/4: The Politics of Expertise
Readings: 1. Escobar (1991) 'Anthropology and the Development Encounter: The Making and Marketing of Development Anthropology.' American Ethnologist 18(4): 658-82.
2. Gow, D. (1993) 'Doubly Damned: Dealing with Power and Praxis in Development Anthropology.' Human Organization 52(4): 380-97.
Medical Anthropology and International Health Development
Wed. 10/6: Disease and/of Development
Readings: 1. Robbins, Chapter 8, pp. 238-69.
(Recomended) 2. Nichter, M. (1987) 'Kyasanur Forest Disease: An Ethnography of a Disease of Development.' Medical Anthropology Quarterly 1(4): 406-23.
Fri. 10/8: Health Development, Inequality and Social Control
Readings: 1. Brown, P. (1987) 'Microparasites and Macroparasites.' Cultural Anthropology 2(1): 155-71.
(Recommended) 2. Kaufert and O'Neil, 'Cooptation and Control: The Reconstruction of Inuit Birth.' Medical Anthropology Quarterly 4(4): 427-44.
Mon. 10/11: Culture as an 'Obstacle' - or 'Resource' - for Good Health?
Reading: 1. Nations and Rebhun (1988) 'Mystification of a Simple Solution: Oral Rehydration Therapy in Northeast Brazil' Social Science and Medicine 27(1): 25-38.
(Recommended) 2. Parker, R. (1987) 'Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in Urban Brazil.' Medical Anthropology Quarterly 1(2): 155-75.
* [Class Discussion: Discussion Paper #3 due] *
Toward 'Sustainability?:' NGOs, Population, Environment, Gender...
Whose Reality Counts?: The Dilemmas of Development from the 'Bottom-up'
Wed. 10/13: Development from the 'Bottom-up?'
Readings: 1. Gardner and Lewis, Chapter 5, pp. 103-27.
(Recommended) 2. Stone, L. (1986): 'Primary Health Care for Whom? Village Perspectives from Nepal.' Social Science and Medicine. 22(3): 293-302.
Fri. 10/15: Fall Recess (no class)
Mon. 10/18: In-class exercise: 'Participatory Agroforestry in Haiti'
Readings: 1. Handout
2. Rahnema, M. (1992) 'Participation.' In Sachs, ed. The Development Dictionary, pp. 116-31.
3. Chambers, R. (1994): 'The Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal.' World Development 22(7): 953-69.
Wed. 10/20: The Emergence of NGOs and the Privatization of Aid
Reading: 1. Fisher, J. (1998) 'NGOs, Civil Society and Political Development.' In Nongovernments: NGOs and the Political Development of the Third World, pp. 1-37.
Fri. 10/22: The Politics and Anti-Politics of NGO-driven Development
Reading: 1. Fisher, W. (1997) 'Doing Good? The Politics and Anti-Politics of NGO (R) Practices.' Annual Review of Anthropology 26: 439-64.
* [Paper #1 due in class 10/22] *
Population, Consumption and Environment
Mon. 10/25: The Origins and Ideology of 'Sustainable Development'
Readings: 1. Adams, W.M. (1990) 'The Ideology of Sustainable Development' in Green Development: Environment and Sustainability in the Third World, pp. 42-65.
2. Korten, D. 'Sustainable Development' (Web-based reading see links page)
Wed. 10/27: Narratives of Population and Environment
Readings: 1. Robbins, Chapter 5, pp. 147-78.
2. Hoben, 'Paradigms and Politics: The Social Construction of Environmental Policy in Ethiopia.' World Development 23(6): 1007-21.
Fri. 10/29: Environment, Consumption and Development
Readings: 1. Robbins, Chapter 7, pp. 208-37.
(Recommended) 2. Fairhead and Leach (1997) 'Webs of Power and the Construction of Environmental Policy Problems: Forest Loss in Guinea.' In Grillo and Stirrat, eds. Discourses of Development: Anthropological Perspectives, pp. 35-58.
* [Class Discussion: Discussion Paper #4 due in class] *
Case Study: Malaysian Rain Forests and the Orang Asli
Mon 11/1: The Multiple Faces of 'Environmental' Degradation in Malaysia
Reading: 1. Dentan, et. al., Chapters 1-2 (pp. 1-50).
Wed. 11/3: A Destructive Connection: Latex, Malaysian Rain Forests and the Orang Asli
Readings: 1. Pierce and Kerby (1999) 'The Global Ethics of Latex Gloves: Reflections on Natural Resource Use in Health Care.' Global Bioethics 8(1): 98-107.
2. Dentan, et. al., Chapters 3-4, pp. 51-116.
Fri. 11/5: Orang Asli and Advocacy Anthropology (Kirk Endicott, Dartmouth College)
Reading: 1. Dentan, et. al., Chapter 5, pp. 117-59.
Case Study: Narratives of Desertification and Ariaal Pastoralists
Mon. 11/8: Narratives of 'Desertification'
Reading: 1. McCabe, T. 'Turkana Pastoralism: A Case Against the Tragedy of the Commons.' Human Ecology 18(1): 81-103.
2. Fratkin, Chapters 1-2, pp. 1-39.
Wed. 11/10: Pastoral Peoples and Development
Reading: 1. Fratkin, Chapters 3-6, pp. 41-124
* [Class Discussion: Discussion Paper #5 due] *
Perspectives on Gender and Development
Fri. 11/12: Women-in-Development and its Critique
Readings: 1. Khoury, I. (1994) 'The World Bank and the Feminization of Poverty' and Hodge, 'Women, Structural Adjustment and Empowerment' In Danaher, ed. 50 Years is Enough: The Case Against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. pp. 121-7.
2. Kabeer, N. (1994) 'Treating Cancer with a Bandaid? The Theoretical (R) Underpinnings of WID.' In Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought, pp. 11-39.
Mon. 11/15: Feminisms, Gender and Development
Reading: 1. Mohanty, C. 'Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.' Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism, pp. 51- 80.
2. Web-based reading (see course links page)
The Big Catch: An Exercise in Third World Development
Wed. 11/17: Organizing for 'The Big Catch'
Reading: Robertson, The Big Catch: A Practical Introduction to Development
Fri. 11/19: Organizing for 'The Big Catch'
Reading: Robertson, The Big Catch: A Practical Introduction to Development
Special Class: Sat. 11/20, 9am-1pm: Carrying out 'The Big Catch'
Mon. 11/22: Follow-up discussion on 'The Big Catch'
Wed. 11/24 - Fri 11/26: Thanksgiving Break (no class)
Alternatives: Reflections on 'Anti-Development' and 'Post-Development'
Mon. 11/29: Resistance and Rebellion in the 'Third World'
Reading: 1. Robbins, Chapters 10-12, pp. 303-99.
Wed. 12/1: Voices of 'Anti-Development'
Readings: 1. Web-based reading (see links page)
2. Esteva and Prakash (1998) 'From Global to Local: Beyond Neoliberalism to the International of Hope.' In Grassroots Postmodernism: Remaking the Soils of Culture, pp. 19-49.
* [The Big Catch evalutations due 12/1 in class] *
Fri. 12/3: Constructing Alternatives
Readings: 1. UN (1994) 'African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment,' Duncan 'Reforming the Global Environment Facility,' and Matthews 'Little World Banks.' In Danaher, ed. 50 Years is Enough: The Case Against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. pp. 169-85.
2. Web-based reading: People-Centered Development Forum (see links page)
3. Esteva and Prakash (1998) 'Grassroots Postmodernism: Beyond the Individual Self, Human Rights and Development.' in Grassroots Postmodernism: Remaking the Soil of Cultures, pp. 1-18.
Mon. 12/6: A 'Post-Development' Era?
Reading: 1. Escobar, A. (1995) 'Conclusion: Imagining a Post-Development Era,' In Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, pp. 212-26.
Wed. 12/8: Some (not-so) Final Thoughts on Anthropology and Development
Reading: 1. Gardner and Lewis, Chapter 7, pp. 153-68.
*[Final paper due Mon. 12/13 by 12:00 noon in Anthropology office, 509 Williams Hall]*