Institute for the Study of International Development McGill University Winter 2018

Transcription

1 Institute for the Study of International Development McGill University Winter 2018 INTD Lecture: Culture and Development (3 credits) Mondays and Wednesdays 10:05-11:25am Location: STBIO S3/3 Instructor: Kazue Takamura Office: Room 232 Peterson Hall, 3460 McTavish Street Office Hours: TBA Course Description This course is an introduction to the study of culture in development. Development policy makers and agencies have long assumed that successful development interventions are direct results of positive economic behavior, while perceiving culture as an inappropriate variable. In recent years, however, development agencies and economists have looked to culture as a significant resource explaining the success of development outcomes. Building on this new paradigm of culture and development, this course pays particular attention to the controversial and multifaceted issues surrounding culture and development. Culture is a broad, and at times, ambiguous concept. It is generally understood to be a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behavior, knowledge, and artifacts among members of society. This course views culture as a dynamic and sociopolitical process rather than a static entity. Thus, we pay critical attention to cultural systems that shape asymmetrical power relations in society. 1

2 The course will mainly employ sociological and anthropological perspectives to understand the dynamic socio-political meanings attached to the intersection between culture and development. We will look at a variety of themes, including human rights, multiculturalism, colonial legacies, the politics of identity, cultural hegemony, neoliberalism, Asian Values, indigenous development, social capital, media, consumption, transitional justice, genocide, gender, reproductive health, the commodification of bodies, statelessness, refugees, the environment, resistance, and globalization. Through the readings, we will explore complexities, controversies, and debates surrounding culture and development. The readings span almost all the major regions of the developing world. Course Requirements: 1. Lectures Students are expected to come to class having done the required readings beforehand in order to contribute to class discussion in lectures or in conferences. Readings will average 60 pages per week. Students are strongly encouraged to actively engage with lectures and contribute ideas in class. 2. Conferences Conferences start in the fourth week of the semester (the week of January 29th). Please sign up for one of the conference groups on Minerva and attend it throughout the term. Attendance of conferences is mandatory. Please note that weekly lectures will be held between 10:05-10:55am once conference sessions commence. The primary goal of conferences is to deepen students understanding of development issues addressed in the lectures and readings. The format provides you with an opportunity to participate in actively and to facilitate an engaged and critical discussion of development issues and dilemmas. We will achieve this goal through class discussion and oral group presentations. 2

3 Conference grading will be based on your attendance and your active participation. Please note that the points for the group presentation are separate from the conference points. Students are required to participate consistently and thoughtfully throughout the semester. If a conference is missed because of illness, a doctor s note must be provided to your TA. 3. Group presentation in conference Students are required to make an oral presentation in conference by working in a group comprised of 4-5 people. Each group is assigned to a specific week to discuss the given theme of that week (one group presentation per week). Within that week, students will choose a case study to deepen the analysis of that week s particular theme. The key goal of this group exercise is to facilitate and deepen our knowledge of actual development issues. We will begin this exercise from the week of February 19 th. Requirements of the group presentation (a) Topic: Each group has the freedom to choose a case study that engages with the given weekly theme. In order to visualize the local complexities of the given development issue, the analysis should be done based on a regional or a country case study. For example, if your group presents on the theme of gender, you could discuss the negative effects of microfinance on lowincome rural women through a case study of Bangladesh. (b) Analysis: To demonstrate a solid analysis of the given case study, each group must address the following four macro questions: (1) How does this development issue interact with culture? (2) What are the main variables/factors that shape the issue? (3) Who are key actors and what is their role (in terms of exacerbating or mitigating the problem)? (4) What is the overarching dilemma surrounding the issue? (c) Sources: Each group should integrate relevant academic and non-academic sources (including course readings) in the analysis. 3

4 (d) Division of labor and peer evaluation: In order to ensure equal group participation, you have to make clear the division of labor among the group members. Each member should play a clear role in the group presentation. Please specify each role in the beginning of the presentation. In addition, each member should provide confidential peer evaluations to your TA via after the presentation. In the evaluations, you should briefly discuss your fellow group members contributions as well as your own contributions. (e) Presentation format: Each group will have minutes (not exceeding 20 minutes) to present. After the presentation, we will proceed to Q&A and further class discussion over the issue. Your group is required to provide a powerpoint presentation (or an equivalent format) to your conference TA by 5pm the day before the conference meeting. (f) Scheduling: In the first conference meeting, we will discuss and clarify the arrangement of this exercise, including weekly topics, group members, and presentation schedule. 4. Midterm in-class exam The midterm exam will be scheduled in class on Wednesday, February 14 th. Students must answer identification questions. These identifications will focus on concepts discussed in the course. Each identification must be explained in at least two paragraphs. Potential identification questions will be given in class. If you are unable to take the midterm exam due to an illness, you must inform me prior to the exam and must then provide me with an official medical note. Failure to notify me prior to the exam will result in a 0 for the midterm. Only medical problems will be considered legitimate excuses for taking the makeup exam. Only one makeup midterm exam date will then be scheduled about one week after the official exam. *Re-grading policy for the midterm exam: Please respect the following procedures concerning any re-grading of the midterm exam. 4

5 1. If it is an obvious and simple error in grading (such as a miscalculation or a typo), please talk directly to your conference TA. 2. If your request for a re-grade involves more substantive issues, then you must explain in writing the matter for which you are requesting a re-grade. In your written document, you must provide a substantive explanation as to why you believe you deserve more points. This document must be provided to Professor Takamura during office hours. Please note that any re-grade will entail a re-assessment of the whole exam, which can mean that the grade of the exam may go up or down. Please also note that you must hand in a document requesting a re-grade no later than 2 weeks after your exam has been returned to you. 5. In-class quizzes (between week #7 and week #12) Students will be given a total of five in-class quizzes between week #7 and week #12. Each quiz is based on a specific lecture. Students are required to take the quiz during the lecture. The details will be announced in class. 6. Final take-home exam The final exam is a take-home paper of ten double-spaced pages due on Monday, April 23 rd. Students will be given a question to answer in the last week of the course based on some of the themes addressed during the semester. The question will require the use of lecture notes and course readings, as well as external materials. I will provide more detailed instructions on the final take-home exam. The exam paper must be submitted via MyCourses by 11:59pm on Monday, April 23 rd. If you submit the final paper after April 24, your mark will be automatically deducted 10 points per day. Only valid medical issues will be granted exception to the penalty deduction. If there is a medical issue, you must inform me prior to the deadline for the exam and must later provide a written medical note. Grade Distribution: 1. Conference participation: 10% 2. Group presentation: 15% 5

6 3. In-class quizzes: 5% 4. Midterm exam: 30% 5. Final exam: 40% Course Materials: All the assigned articles will be placed on MyCourses. NOTE: There is no coursepack available for this course. Plagiarism: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see for more information) L'université McGill attache une haute importance à l honnêteté académique. Il incombe par conséquent à tous les étudiants de comprendre ce que l'on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions académiques, ainsi que les conséquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l'étudiant et des procédures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site Policy on Languages: In accord with McGill University s Charter of Students Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. Conformément à la Charte des droits de l étudiant de l Université McGill, chaque étudiant a le droit de soumettre en français ou en anglais tout travail écrit devant être noté (sauf dans le cas des cours dont l un des objets est la maîtrise d une langue) General Information: 6

7 If you have a hearing, visual and mobility impairment, please contact the instructor immediately (in advance of any evaluations or other class requirements). Notare Bene: This course syllabus is subject to change in case of unforeseen circumstances. Course Schedule *Key dates: - Conferences: begin in the week of January 29 th - Oral presentations (conferences): begin in the week of February 19 th - Midterm In-class exam: February 14 th (Friday) - Final take-home exam: April 23 rd (Monday) January 8 January 10 January 15 January 17 January 22 January 24 Week 1: Introduction Introduction Cultural Debates Week 2: Cultural Dilemmas Cultural Dilemmas Contested Multiculturalism Week 3: Politics of Identity Construction of Identity Politics of Difference Conferences Week 4: Hegemony January 29 Hegemony of Development Conf.#1 *Conferences begin! January 31 Neoliberalism 7

8 Week 5: Politics of Culture February 5 Asian Values Conf.#2 February 7 Indigeneity and Developmnt (Guest Speaker: Kenneth Deer) Week 6: Local Knowledge (Midterm Exam) February 12 Local Knowledge *No conferences this week February 14 Midterm In-Class Exam Week 7: Consumption February 19 February 21 Religion and Consumption New Information Technology Conf.#3 1 st Group presentation (Theme: Politics of culture or local knowledge) Week 8: Transitional Justice February 26 Contextualizing Transitional Justice Conf.#4 2 nd Group presentation February 28 Memory of Mass Atrocities (Theme: Consumption) *Note: no lectures and conferences in the week of February 27 th! Week 9: Gender March 12 March 14 Gender and the State Reproductive Health Conf.#5 3 rd Group presentation (Theme: Transitional justice) Week 10: Commodification of Bodies March 19 Commercial Surrogacy Conf. #6 4 th Group presentation 8

9 March 21 Organ Trade (Theme: Gender) Week 11: Statelessness March 26 Statelessness Conf. #7 March 28 Refugees Week 12: Environmental Activism April 2 No Class (Easter Monday) Conf. #8 April 4 Environmental Activism 5 th Group presentation (Theme: Commodification of Bodies) (Theme: Statelessness) Week 13: Resistance and Globalization April 9 Subalterns and Resistance *No conferences April 11 April 16 Globalization and Labor Rights Conclusion Week 1 Introduction January 8: Introduction *Discuss the key objectives of the course, the course structure, reading materials, and the course requirements. January 10: Cultural Debates Harrison, Lawrence Culture Matters. The National Interest 60 (Summer):

10 Sen, Amartya How Does Culture Matter? in Culture and Public Action (edited by Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton). Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp Optional: Worsley, Peter Classic Conceptions of Culture. In Culture and Global Change (edited by Tracey Skelton and Tim Allen), New York: Routledge, pp (Chapter 1). January 15: Cultural Dilemmas Week 2 Dilemmas in Culture and Development Gaete, Rolando The West, Its Other and Human Rights. In Culture and Global Change (edited by Tracey Skelton and Tim Allen), New York: Routledge, pp Sylvain, Renee Disorderly Development: Globalization and the Idea of Culture in the Kalahari. American Ethnologist 32 (3): January 17: Contested Multiculturalism Kundnani, Arun. Multiculturalism and Its Discontents: Left, Right, and Liberal. European Journal of Cultural Studies 15(2): Wetherly, Paul Freedom of Expression, Multiculturalism and the Danish Cartoons. In Islam in the West: Key Issues in Multiculturalism (edited by Max Farrar et al.) New York: Palgrave MacMillan, pp Optional: Howard-Hassmann, Rhoda Canadian as an Ethnic Category: Implications for Multiculturalism and National Unity. Canadian Public Policy 25(4):

11 January 22: Construction of Identity Week 3 Politics of Identity Chatterjee, Partha Colonialism, Nationalism, and Colonized Women: The Contest in India. American Ethnologist 16(14): Mamdani, Mahmood Indirect Rule, Civil Society, and Ethnicity: The African Dilemma. Social Justice 23(1/2): Optional: Mullaney, Thomas Seeing for the State: The Role of Social Scientists in China s Ethnic Classification Project. Asian Ethnicity 11(3): January 24: Politics of Difference Jefremovas, Villas Contested Identities: Power and the Fictions of Ethnicity, Ethnography and History in Rwanda. Anthropologica 39(1/2): Comaroff, Jean and John Comaroff Reflections on Liberalism, Policulturalism, and ID-ology: Citizenship and Difference in South Africa. Social Identities 9(4): Week 4 Neoliberal Hegemony *Conferences begin this week. Lectures will now be 50 minutes from 2:35 to 3:25pm January 29: Hegemony of Development 11

12 Ferguson, James Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order. Durham: Duke University Press, pp (Chapter 7 and Chapter 8). Optional: Jackson, Lears The Concept of Cultural Hegemony: Problems and Possibilities. The American Historical Review 90(3): January 31: Neoliberalism Andres, Gerhard Good Governance as Technology: Toward an Ethnography of the Bretton Woods Institutions. In Giving Aid: Ethnographies of Development Practice and Neoliberal Reform (edited by David Mosse and Lewis David). New York: Pluto Press, pp Fisher, William Doing Good? The Politics and Antipolitics of NGO Practices. Annual Review of Anthropology 26: Optional: Schuster, Caroline Social Collateral: Women and Microfinance in Paraguay s Smuggling Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp (Chapter 1). February 5: Asian Values Week 5 Politics of Culture Sen, Amartya Human Rights and Asian Values, The New Republic v217 (n2-3): 1-9. Thompson, Mark "Whatever Happened to 'Asian Values'?" Journal of Democracy 12(4):

13 February 7: Indigeneity and Development Guest Speaker: Kenneth Deer Corntassel, Jeff Who is Indigenous?: Peoplehood and Ethnonationalist Approaches to Rearticulating Indigenous Identity. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 9(1): Optional: Champagne, Duane United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Human, Civil, and Indigenous Rights. Wicazo Sa Review 28 (1): February 12: Local Knowledge Week 6 Local Knowledge *No conferences this week Smith, Thomas Aneurin Local Knowledge in Development (Geography). Geography Compass 5(8): Harragin, Simon Relief and an Understanding of Local Knowledge: The Case of Southern Sundan. in Culture and Public Action (edited by Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton). Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp Optional: Briggs, John and Joanne Sharp Indigenous Knowledge and Development: A Postcolonial Caution. Third World Quarterly 25(4): Johnson, Hazel. Local Forms of Resistance. In Culture and Global Change (edited by Tracey Skelton and Tim Allen), New York: Routledge, pp

14 February 14: Midterm In-Class Exam Week 7 Consumption February 19: Religion and Consumption (Pious Consumption) Jones, Carla Materializing Piety: Gendered Anxieties about Faithful Consumption in Contemporary Urban Indonesia. American Ethnologist 37 (4): Kitiarsa, Pattana Buhhda-izing a Global City-State: Transnational Religious Mobilities, Spiritual Marketplace, and Thai Migrant Monks in Singapore. Mobilities 5(2): February 21: New Information Technology (Call Center Workers) Rowe, A.C. et al Answer the Call. University of Minnesota Press, pp Hudson, Dale Undesirable Bodies and Desirable Labor: Documenting the Globalization and Digitization: Transnational American Dreams in Indian Call Centers. Cinema Journal 49(1): Optional: Costa, Elisabetta Visual Posting: Showing Off and Shifting Boundaries Between Private and Public. Social Media in Southeast Turkey. London: UCL Press. 14

15 Week 8 Transitional Justice February 26: Contextualizing Transitional Justice Shaws, Rosalind and Lars Waldorf Localizing Transitional Justice. Stanford University Press, pp (Chapter 1& 2). Shaw, Rosalind Displacing Violence: Making Pentecostal Memory in Postwar Sierra Leone. Cultural Anthropology 22(1): Optional: Uvin, Peter Ethnicity and Power in Brundi and Rwanda: Different Paths to Mass Violence. Comparative Politics 31(3): February 28: Memory of Mass Atrocities Schlund-Vials, Cathy J War, Genocide, and Justice: Cambodian American Memory Work. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp *Note: no lectures and conferences in the week of February 27 th Spring Break! March 12: Gender and the State Week 9 Gender and Development Brenner, Suzanne Private Moralities in the Public Sphere: Democratization, Islam and Gender in Indonesia. American Anthropologist 113(3):

16 Ong, Aihwa (1995) State Versus Islam: Malay Families, Women s Bodies, and the Body Politic in Malaysia. In Bewitching Women, Pious Men, edited by Aihwa Ong and Michael Peletz. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp March 14: Reproductive Health Greenhalgh, Susan Controlling Births and Bodies in Village China. American Ethnologist 21(1): Thomas, Lynn Imperial Populations and Women s Affairs. Politics of the Womb: Women, Reproduction, and the State in Kenya. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp March 19: Commercial Surrogacy Week 10 Commodification of Bodies Pande, Amrita Commercial Surrogacy in India: Manufacturing a Perfect Mother-Worker. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 35(4): Bergmann, Sven Fertility Tourism: Circumventive Routes That Enable Access to Reproductive Technologies and Substances. Signs 36 (2): March 21: Organ Trade Film screening: TBA Alburo, Kaira Zoe K Kidneys for Sale: Regulating Bodies Through Medical Tourism in the Philippines, Philippine Quarterly of Culture and 16

17 Society 35(3): Week 11 Statelessness March 26: Statelessness Bliitz, Brad Neither Seen nor Heard: Compound Deprivation among Stateless Children. In Children Without a State: A Global Human Rights Challenge (edited by Jacqueline Bhabha). Cambridge: The MIT Press, pp March 28: Refugees Anderson, Ruben Illegality, Inc.: Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering Europe. Oakland: University of California Press, pp (Introduction). Week 12 Environmental Activism April 2: No Class (Easter Monday) April 4: Environmental Activism Yang, Guobin Environmental NGOs and Institutional Dynamics in China. The China Quarterly 181: Hook, Leslie China s Environmental Activists. Financial Times (September 20). 17

18 April 9: Subalterns and Resistance Week 13 Resistance and Globalization Bob, Clifford Dalit Rights Are Human Rights: Caste Discrimination, International Activism, and the Construction of a New Human Rights Issue. Human Rights Quarterly 29(1): April 11: Globalization and Labor Rights Azmin, Negar, Letter from Abu Dhabi: The Gulf Art War. The New Yorker (December 16 & 26). Constable, Nicole The Commodification of Intimacy: Marriage, Sex, and Reproductive Labor. Annual Review of Anthropology 38: April 16: Conclusion *No readings 18