Menno Simons College, Canadian Mennonite University, and Affiliated with the University of Winnipeg
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Menno Simons College, Canadian Mennonite University, and affiliated with the University of Winnipeg Syllabus: Introduction to International Development Studies, IDS-1100/6-002 Fall-Winter Term 2019-20 Class location: 2MS13 Class Times: Tu & Th 10-11:15am Course Website: https://nexus.uwinnipeg.ca Instructor:Dr. Jerry Buckland Office:2MS23 Office hours: Tu & Th 2:30-3:45pm Email: via Nexus Telephone:204-953-3859 Faculty Member Website: http://www.mscollege.ca/about.php?s=faculty&id=515 Calendar Course Description Persistent poverty and discrimination, rising inequality and environmental stress, vulnerability to violence and disaster- these problems challenge people around the world. Imagine yourself as an agent of change, seeking ways to live justly and peacefully with others and the earth. Where would one look for ideas? This course introduces students to the concepts and critical tools needed to understand a range of approaches to change, both conventional and transformative. Students learn to pose and answer questions about current development challenges, and to analyze examples of successful and unsuccessful development at the global, national, and community levels This section of the course recognizes and seeks to understand the rise of much of the Global South, particularly Asia most notably China, the rise of environmental challenges, and it seeks to understand the obstacles of and opportunities for human and environmental health with particular focus on for low-income people, communities, and countries located around the world. Course Objectives o Identify key elements of theoretical approaches to development and be able to identify examples of each of these theoretical approaches. o Assess the ability of these theoretical approaches to explain selected cases of development. o Gain awareness of selected development problems and identify factors at the local, national and global levels that have contributed to these problems. o Critically examine different responses to these problems, including how value assumptions and theoretical orientation shape these responses. o Identify key development actors who formulate and carry out these responses. o Gain awareness of skills that are important to the field of international development such as planning, evaluating, and researching. o Improve your independent research skills such as critical thinking, researching, writing, and referencing. o Improve your inter-personal and professional skills such as engaging in class discussions, engaging in small group conversations and simulations, collaborating with your peers, actively listening, and effectively communicating. Assignments & Grade Assessment Your grade will be assessed based on a series of tests & assignments listed below. More details on certain assignments are found below. 1 | P a g e Assignment Value (%) towards Deadline or final grade Date 1a.Chapter report on This Place: 150 7.5 3Oct Years Retold 1b.Chapter report on This Place: 150 2.5 3Oct Years Retold -- small group assignment Quiz 1 15 22Oct 2a.Financial empowerment report 8.5 26Nov Fall Term Fall 2b.Attend both financial 2 x 0.75 = 1.5 5Nov & 12Nov empowerment events Class participation fall term 5 28Nov Sub-total Fall Term 40 Quiz 2 15 30Jan 3a.Development & environment report 15 21 March 3b.Development & environment small 10 4 Apr group assignment Quiz 3 15 19Mar Winter Term Class participation winter term 5 31Mar Sub-total Winter Term 60 Grand total 100 Participation Your participation in class is a critical part of the learning process. Receiving a top grade in this requires that you practice good participation skills (see below), regularly engage in class and regularly engage in small group discussion. In the class you have the opportunity to express your ideas, hear from other people, and think more deeply &/or broadly. Participation requires the following, Help to create a safe and supportive environment to discuss course ideas. Attend and be on time for classes and consider your neighbors. Express your views and, encourage, and actively listen to, your peers. Be strategic about your contributions to small-group and class discussions: regularly but not excessively. Help to keep the small group and class discussion on topic. Use reading skills to scan, skim, & read course material in advance of the class in which it is covered Class etiquette o If you expect to need to leave the classroom during the class, please let the instructor know ahead of time and sit near the door. o If requested, help to form the tables into a semi-circle at the beginning of each class and to return the tables to their original location at the end of class. o If you use a laptop, please sit in a location where other students will not be distracted by it. This could be at the back or the side of the room. A cell phone can be particularly distracting so please be considerate to your classmates and turn the phone completely off. If there is an urgent reason to have the phone running during class, please speak to the instructor ahead of time. Quizzes The three quizzes will be held roughly every 8 weeks, in class, and cover material for that period (i.e., not cumulative). The format of the quiz is that there will be different sections that will be multiple choice, yes/no, and/or short answer/essay style questions. You will have some choice in most sections. See the end of the syllabus for a sample quiz. 2 | P a g e Assignment 1. This Place: 150 Years Retold assignment Along with several other classes at the university we will use a portion of this book as a resource for a class and an assignment. a. Report on book chapter This Place: 150 Years Retold Write a chapter report, on ‘Like a Razor Slash’ chapter (p.166-191), from the book This Place: 150 Years Retold. The ideal report will be 2 pages and will including and introduction, body of the report, and conclusion. For the body of the paper please include two components: one-half devoted to a summary of the book’s content including its purpose and the main points (what are the key points raised in the chapter; what is the tone of the chapter?), and one-half in which you explain how the book’s message is important to you (what was new for you? How did it affect your thinking about Indigenous Peoples and natural resource use?). b. Small group assignment on book chapter This Place: 150 Years Retold Students will be placed into a small group in which to discuss the assigned chapter of the book. Indigenous peoples’ and pipeline development (western Canada focus): who has the right to the land from which the oil comes and through which the oil travels? Why? Indigenous peoples’ and hydro development (Manitoba focus): Relate the chapter story to hydro development in Manitoba and discuss the questions above: who has the right to the land from which the hydro comes and through which the hydro travels? Why? Economic growth, natural resource development, and Indigenous Peoples. How important is energy to the economy? Why? Are there alternatives? Each group will have 20 minutes to prepare a 3-minute presentation to the class about their topic. The presentation includes all participants, in some way. And please be creative! Assignment 2. Financial empowerment assignment A process that unites many people around the world is the challenge of managing personal finances, particularly in light of financialization, involving rising access to credit, growing social media advertising, the introduction of open banking, and the growth of alternative currencies. Sponsored by Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, each November is financial literacy month (https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/campaigns/financial-literacy- month/about.html), an opportunity to think about our personal finances. We will use this topic for a few class sessions and an assignment. a.Financial empowerment events Attend and write report on the events. This will be a 4-page report that includes introduction, core content, and conclusion. The core content includes a summary of the events in a maximum one page. Then, in a 1.5-3 pages, discuss the importance of the presentations for you. Why is financial literacy, financial empowerment, and/or knowledge about alternative credit products important to you? Pick one of these issues to focus on. Assignment 3. Development & environment assignment More information about these assignments will be provided in January 2020. a.Development & environment report Write a report on an important development-environment relationship (e.g., consumerism and accumulation of plastic waste, economic growth and global climate change) focusing on one of the following countries: Australia, Bangladesh, 3 | P a g e Canada, New Zealand, South Africa. The report will be 7-10 pages (excluding title page and bibliography) and is formatted with an introduction (purpose of report, outline of report), core content (description of country and listing of main challenges and strengths, focus on 2 to 3 of these), and conclusion (restate your major findings; be optimistic: what can we learn from this country?) b.Development & environment small group project Students will be placed into small groups based on their country and in their small group identify strengths and weaknesses that country is facing with respect to the development-environment relationship. What are the major problems the country is facing? What are the major successes it has achieved? Required Textbooks Haslam, Paul A., Jessica Schafer, & Pierre Beaudet 2017. Introduction to International Development: Approaches, Actors, Issues, and Practice, Third Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Other readings are available electronically from the UW library (see note below) or directly on the web. Another important book Akiwenzi-Damm, Kateri et al. 2017, This Place: 150 Years Retold, Winnipeg: Portage and Main Press. There are multiple hard copies of this book on reserve in the library, plus several unlimited user e-copies.