POLS ST: Feminist Theories of International Development Course Description and Learning Objectives Course Requirements:

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1 POLS ST: Feminist Theories of International Development Fall 2008 Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:00-12:50pm Location: Maybank 316 Professor: Dr. Kea Gorden Office Phone Number: Office Hours: Mondays 1-2:30, Tuesdays 3:30-4:30, by appointment Office Location: 114 Wentworth St., Room 205 Note: syllabus subject to revision Course Description and Learning Objectives This course serves as an introduction to thinking about the complexity of international development within the framework of feminist theories. After decades of efforts to promote development, why is there so much poverty in the world? What are some of the root causes of inequality world-wide and why do poverty, economic transformations and development policies often have different consequences for women and men? This course explores these issues while also examining the history of development itself, its underlying assumptions, and its range of supporters and critics. It considers the various meanings given to development by women and men, primarily as residents of particular regions, but also as aid workers, policy makers and government officials. The course is appropriate for those intending to work in international development, as well as for those desiring an advanced introduction to the growing literature on gender and international development. Through the study of a range of theoretical texts, primary data sources and policy statements, we will rigorously examine the politics and policies of international development from a feminist perspective. Central to our understanding of these matters will be a continued discussion of the concept of gender and its critical connections to the sociohistorical, cultural, and geopolitical conditions of international development. Course Requirements: Attendance at class and participation is essential and constitutes 20% of course grade. Course materials must be read for the assigned day in class. Completed reading assignments, regular attendance in class, and informed participation in discussions are extremely important not only for your, but also for other 1

2 students in the class. They are your contribution to the group s learning process. All readings are required. You should come to class with questions written down for the class discussion. These can be comprehension or discussion questions. I will collect these periodically, so please bring them on a sheet of paper or them to me the night before class. Written assignments included: One short 3 page paper (worth 20% of grade) One 5-7 page paper (worth 25% of grade) Final Exam (worth 35% of grade) Honor System and Academic Integrity Any breach of the College of Charleston Honor Code will result in a failing grade in this class. The following is taken from the College of Charleston website and can be found at m/faculty_guide.html Honor Code The Honor Code specifically forbids lying, cheating, attempted cheating, stealing, attempted stealing and plagiarism. Students at the College are bound by honor and by their acceptance of admission to the College to abide by the Code and to report violations. Code of Conduct As members of the College community, students are expected to evidence a high standard of personal conduct and to respect the rights of other students, faculty, staff members, community neighbors, and visitors on campus. Students are also expected to adhere to all federal, state, and local laws. Faculty members are required to report violations of the Honor Code or Code of Conduct to the Office of Student Affairs. Disability Statement If there is a student in this class who has a documented disability and has been approved to receive accommodations through the Center for Disability Services/SNAP (Student Needing Access Parity), please come and discuss this with me during my office hours. 2

3 Required Texts All texts can be found at both University Books and the College of Charleston Bookstore. You are also required to print and read the E-Reserve materials. Please plan accordingly. Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood. New York: G. Braziller, ISBN: Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition, ISBN-13: Hodgson, Dorothy. Once Intrepid Warriors: Gender, Ethnicity and the Cultural Politics of Maasai Development. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, ISBN: de Chungara, Domitila. Let Me Speak! New York: Monthly Review Press, ISBN: Gutmann, Matthew. The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City. Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN: Farmer, Paul. Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues. Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN: Wolf, Diane. Factory Daughters: Gender, Household Dynamics, and Rural Industrialization in Java. Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN: August 27 August 29 September 1 Introduction to the Class and Expectations Introduction to International Development and Feminist Theories Development and Conceptions of Progress Readings: September 1-3 Ferguson, James. Anthropology and its Evil Twin: Development in the Constitution of a Discipline. In International Development and the Social Sciences. Edited by Frederick Cooper and Randall Packards. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp (E-Reserve) 3

4 Shanin, Theodor. The Idea of Progress. In The Post- Development Reader. Ed. By Mjid Rahnema and Victoria Bawtree. London: Zed Books. Pp (E-Reserve) September 5 Film: Life and Debt September 8 Perspectives from the South Readings: September 8-10 Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. September 10 Perspectives from the South (contd.) Part I: The Colonial Legacy: The Gendered Precedents of Development September 12 The Colonial Legacy Readings: September Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood. September 15 The Colonial Legacy (cont.) September 17 Colonial Images of "Native" Women and Men Film: First Contact Readings: September 17 Hobsbawm, Eric. "The Age of Empire." Chapter 3 in The Age of Empire. Pantheon, (E-Reserve) Stoler, Ann Laura. "Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power, Gender, Race, and Morality in Colonial Asia." In Gender / Sexuality Reader, Culture, History, Political Economy. Edited by Roger N. Lancaster, and Micaela di Leonardo. New York and London: Routledge, (E-Reserve) September 19 Colonial Transformations of Gender Readings: September 19 Required Readings: Oyewumi, Oyeronke "Preface and Chapter 1" in The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses. University of Minnesota Press. pp ix-30. (E-Reserve) Allen, Judith Van. " 'Sitting on a Man': Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women." Canadian Journal of African Studies 6, 2 (1972): (E- Reserve) 4

5 September 22 Women, Tradition and Modernism Readings: September 22 Chatterjee, Partha. "Colonialism, Nationalism and Colonialized Women: the Contest in India." American Ethnologist 16: 4 (1989) (E-Reserve) Walley, Christine. " 'Searching for "Voices" ': Feminism, Anthropology, and the Global Debate over Female Genital Operations." Cultural Anthropology 12: 3 (1997) (E-Reserve) September 24 Socialism and Post-Colonialism Readings: September Chungara, Domitila de. Let Me Speak! September 26 Socialism and Post-Colonialism (cont.) September 29 Film: Joe Leahy's Neighbors *Paper 1 Due* Part II: The Rise of Development Theory October 1 The Rise of Development Theory Readings: October 1 Cooper, Fred, and Randal Packard, eds. "Introduction." In International Development and the Social Sciences. Edited by Fred Cooper, and Randal Packard. Berkley: University of California Press, (E-Reserve) Nyerere, Julius K. "Socialism and Rural Development." Chapter 37 in Freedom and Socialism. Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, (E-Reserve) Finnemore, Martha. "Redefining Development at the World Bank." Chapter 7 in International Development and Social Sciences. (E-Reserve) October 3 Critics from within the Economic Frame Readings: October 3 Ake, Claude. "The Development Paradigm and its Politics." Chapter 1 in Democracy and Development in Africa. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, (E-Reserve) Mitchell, Timothy. "Fixing the Economy." Cultural Studies 12: 1 (1998) (E-Reserve) 5

6 Sen, Amartya. "The Economics of Life and Death." Scientific American. May Part III: Development and Daily Life October 6 Film: Our Friends at the Bank Readings: October 6-10 Hodgson, Dorothy. Once Intrepid Warriors. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, October 8 Development and Daily Life (cont.) October 10 Development and Daily Life (cont.) October 15 Development and Bureaucracy Readings: October 15 Ferguson, James. "The Bovine Mystique: Power, Property and Livestock in Rural Lesotho." Man, 20: : (E-Reserve) Pigg, Stacey Leigh. "The Credible and the Credulous: The Question of 'Villagers' Beliefs' in Nepal." Cultural Anthropology 2: 2 (1996): (E-Reserve) October 17 Development and Bureaucracy (contd.) Readings: October 17 Scott, James. Selections from Seeing Like a State. (E- Reserve) October 20 Knowledge and the Environment Readings: October 20 Gupta, Akhil. "Indigenous Knowledges: Ecology." In Postcolonial Developments. Durham: Duke University Press, (E-Reserve) Agarwal, Bina. "Development and Environment: 'The Gender and Environment Debate: Lessons from India'." Feminist Studies 18, 1 (Spring 1992). (E-Reserve) October 22 Knowledge and the Environment (contd.) Walley, Christine J. " 'They Scorn Us Because We Are Uneducated': Knowledge and Power in a Tanzanian Marine Park." Ethnography 3:3 (2002) (E-Reserve) October 24 The Complexities of Activism Readings: October 24 Turner, Terence. "The Social Dynamics of Video Media in an Indigenous Society: The Cultural Meaning and the Personal 6

7 Politics of Video-Making in Kayapo Communities." Visual Anthropology Review 7:2 (Fall 1991). (E-Reserve) Mahmood, Saba and Charles Hirschkind, "Feminism and the Taliban, and Politics of Counter-Insurgency." Anthropology Quarterly, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Spring 2002), pp (E- Reserve) October 27 Film: Black Harvest *Paper 2 Due* Part IV: Further into Daily Life - The Politics of Poverty outside the Development Frame October 29 The Politics of Wage Labor Readings: October 29-November 3 Wolf, Diane. Selections from Factory Daughters. October 31 The Politics of Wage Labor (contd.) November 3 The Politics of Wage Labor (contd.) November 5 Drawing the Line Between First and Third Worlds? Readings: November 5 Duncan, Cynthia M. "Blackwell." Preface and Chapter 1 in Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, (E-Reserve) November 7 Drawing the Line Between First and Third Worlds? (contd.) Readings: November 7-10 Mignolo, Walter. Selections from Local Histories/Global Designs (E-Reserve) November 10 Drawing the Line Between First and Third Worlds? (contd.) November Issues of Health Readings: November Farmer, Paul. Selections from Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues. November 24 Film: Celso and Cora Week of December 1-5 Readings: December 1-5 Thinking More About Gender 7

8 Gutmann, Matthew. Selections from The Meanings of Macho. December 8 December 15 Review Session FINAL 8