Heller Graduate School s1

The Heller School for Social Policy and Management Brandeis University Sustainable International Development Graduate Program

HS262f Culture, Power and Development Wednesdays Spring 2015 Module 2 Room: Brown 163 Dr. Kelley Ready [email protected] 781-736-3857 Office: 155 Heller/Brown Office Hours: TBD

University notices: 1. If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.

2. You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. The University policy on academic honesty is distributed annually as section 5 of the Rights and Responsibilities handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty are subject to possible judicial action. Potential sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the University. If you have any questions about my expectations, please ask.

Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another person – be it a world-class philosopher or your roommate – without proper acknowledgement of that source. In this class, you must use APA style citations to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet, or created by another student (see http://library.brandeis.edu/getstarted/quick/cite.html or http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/apa/sources/intext.html for guidelines). Do not cut and paste anything from the internet or any other source without citations. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, you must ask for clarification.

This syllabus is subject to change. When in doubt, please ask me.

Course Description Culture and power are two factors that are always present in development but whose impact is often unrecognized in our theory and practice. Whether looking at colonialism, race, tradition or structural adjustment, our cultural and social constructs frame the way development is seen and practiced. While those with the most powerful lenses have had a much greater ability to shape development policy, the resistance to their methods has, at times, illuminated more equitable and effective development relationships. This course encourages students to consider the critiques of development that have emerged in recent years from anthropology, cultural and postcolonial studies, and from the development field itself.

Because the readings are challenging, questions to consider while doing the assignments will be posted on Latte for each week. The questions for the first week are below.

Core Competency Statement The goal of this course is to get students to engage with constructs of cultural superiority, debates about modernization, and concepts about what motivates individual and cultural change. Students 2 will be introduced to alternative theoretical approaches to culture and development, and learn how to apply those theories to different historic contexts as well as contemporary situations. Presentations skills will be enhanced through class participation. Through class discussions of the readings, students will have the opportunity to improve their analytical skills including gender analysis. The understandings gained through this class should also contribute to students’ ability to communicate and work cross-culturally.

Sustainable Development Statement Examining development critically, especially in terms of power and culture, casts light on the assumptions of the “developers” and the systems of knowledge that justify the development process. By deconstructing the discourse of development, we can generate new understandings of the factors that contribute to more effective policies and practices.

Gender, Race and Ethnicity Perspective Statement A gender perspective is integral to understanding the dynamics of development, power and culture. As such it will be the primary topic of one week of the course and incorporated into the other weeks’ discussions. Race and ethnicity are two other axis of power that have shaped the development field and will also be explored throughout the course in various case studies and essays.

Course Requirements 1. You are required to attend all classes and are expected to arrive on time. If you have to leave early, please let me know in advance. 2. Each week’s readings and assignments should be completed before class. 3. You are expected to participate in class discussions and any small group work. 4. Your assignments should be prepared and handed in by the deadlines. If they are handed in after class meets, they are considered late and the grade will be dropped as they will be for each additional day. 5. The course will have three exams, all of which will be take-home essay exams. 6. Students will be assigned in-class presentations. 7. You are expected to treat other students with respect and encouraged to be helpful to your fellow students.

Your grade will be calculated as follows Attendance and class participation count toward 20% of your grade. There will be three exams which should be submitted on line through LATTE The first exam will count toward 20% of your grade. The second exam will count toward 25% of your grade. The final exam will count toward 35% of your grade. Due

You will receive early feedback on your performance Feedback will be given on the first exam by the fourth week.

My make-up policy for late papers or missed exams If you anticipate a problem completing an assignment on time, please contact me at least 24 hours before the assignment is due or your grade may be dropped.

Grading structure: 100 - 98 = A+, 97 - 93 = A, 92 - 90 = A-, 89 - 87 = B+, 86 – 83 = B, 82 – 80 = B- (etc)

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CLASS SESSIONS

Week 1, 3/11: Theories of Cultural Difference and Development Schech, Susanne and Jane Haggis (2000) Culture and Development: A Critical Introduction, (to be referred to as the Introduction) Malden, MA: Blackwell Publisher. Preface: “The Cross-overs of Culture and Development” pp. ix-xviii and Chapter 1: “Thinking about Culture and Development,” pp. 1-6 and 16-29. [You will read section 2.3 for next week] What is your culture? What does it mean to say that development is a discourse (p.1) or that culture is “a site of contestation”? (p.27) How do the ideas of the Enlightenment and colonization relate to issues of power, and development? How does one “essentialize” culture? (p. 22-24) What is a constructionist approach? Consider how race can be seen as a social construction.

Schech, Susanne and Jane Haggis, eds. (2000) Development: A Critical Studies Reader, (to be referred to as the Reader) Malden, MA: Blackwell Publisher. Intro: pp. xii-xxi; Chap. 2 “Modernization Ideals” (Myrdal): pp. 11-18 and Chap. 28 “The Credible and the Credulous (Pigg): pp. 324-343. Consider how discourse is defined (xiv), postcolonial formulations are identified (xvii), and critiques of Western feminism’s essentialization of Third World women and post-development’s critique of development are explained. (Dictionary definitions of the terminology in the introduction might not be particularly useful. The web might be more helpful.) What are Myrdal’s (pp. 11-18) views of modernization? Why does Pigg claim that “it is better deliver development than to be its target” (p. 329) in Nepal? What does the story about the false shaman (pp. 331-334) say about the divide between traditional and modern beliefs?

Latte: Mishra, Yamini, et al. (2006) Negotiating Culture: Intersections of Culture and Violence Against Women in the Asian Pacific. Chiangmai, Thailand: Asian Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. pp. 10-15. How do the authors distinguish between culture and religion? How did colonialism construct the concept of culture? How does cultural sensitivity differ from cultural essentialism?

Optional: Reader, Chap. 1 “The Grocer and the Chief: a Parable” (Learner), 1-10

Film: “The Life and Times of Sara Baartman: The Hottentot Venus.”

Week 2, 3/18: Theories of Culture Difference and Development II (First exam handed out) Introduction: Chapter 1, Section 2.3, “Third World Development Doctrines: pp 6-15; Chapter 2: “Bringing Culture and Development Together,” pp. 33-57.

Reader: Chap. 3 (Huntington) and 4 (Weller): pp. 19-44

Latte: Rosenberg, Tina. (2007, March 25). “Reverse Foreign Aid: Why are poor countries subsidizing rich ones? The New York Times Sunday, pp. 16-19.

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Week 3, 3/25: Colonialism, Modernization and Globalization. (First exam due) Introduction: Chapter 3: “Globalization and the Politics of Representation,” pp. 57-84.

Reader: Chap. 5 (Said) and 6 (Hall), pp. 44-64. Chapter 8 (Escobar); Chapter 9 (Ferguson); Chapter 10 (Shrestha), pp. 79-122.

Week 4, 4/1: Gender, Sexuality and Development (Second exam handed out)

Introduction: Chapter IV: “Feminism, Development and Culture,” pp. 85-117.

Reader: Chap. 17 (Margold): pp. 182-194; Chap. 20 (Narayan) pp. 225-238.

Latte: Mishra, Yamini, et al. (2006) Negotiating Culture: Intersections of Culture and Violence Against Women in the Asian Pacific. Chiangmai, Thailand: Asian Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. pp. 16-21, Chapter 3.

Latte: Jolly, Susie (2007) Why the Development Industry Should get over its Obsession with Bad Sex and Start to Think about Pleasure. Working Paper 238. Sussex, England: Institute for Development Studies. pp. 9-13.

Latte: Girls, Education and Kinship: In Tanzania, a Maasai girl escapes to education

Resource: The Yogakarta Principles

Film: “Dangerous Living: Coming out in the developing world”

Week 5, 4/15: Local “Tradition” and Global “Development” (Second exam due)

Introduction: Chapter V: “Inventing Traditions, Constructing Nations,” pp. 118-153.

Reader: Chapter 18 (Wilk): pp. 194-208; Chap. 24 (Ranger): pp. 283-291.

Latte: Mishra, Yamini, et al. (2006) Negotiating Culture: Intersections of Culture and Violence Against Women in the Asian Pacific. Chiangmai, Thailand: Asian Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. pp. 22-29, Chapter 4

Latte: Appiah, Kwame Anthony. (2006, January 1). “The Case for Contamination,” The New York Times.

Optional: Chap. 15 (Appadurai): pp.155-167 (a difficult read but worth the struggle).

Week 6, 4/22: Development and Cultural Transformation (Final exam handed out)

You will be assigned one of the cases from “Culturally Sensitive Approaches: Lessons from the Field” http://www.unfpa.org/culture/field.htm (on line). Be prepared to discuss the case in terms of the challenges faced by UNFPA and the approach they used to address it.

Introduction: Chapter 6: “Human Rights, Cultural Difference and Globalization,” pp. 154-191.

Reader: Chapter 13 (Preis): pp. 132-143. Chap. 14 (Jolly): pp. 144-157;

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Latte: Norgrove, Linda and David Hulme. (2006) Confronting Conservation at Mount Elgon, Uganda. Development and Change, September 2006, Vol. 37 Issue 5, p1093-1116.

Resources: UNFPA (2009) Integrating Human Rights, Culture and Gender in Programming: Participants Training Manual. Available at https://www.unfpa.org/public/op/edit/publications/pid/4106; UNESCO (2009) The Power of Culture for Development. Available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001893/189382e.pdf

Week 7, 4/29: ICTs and change (Final exam due at 6:00)

Ekine, Sokari (2010) SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa. Capetown, South Africa: Pambazuka Press. Chapter TBD.

Thomas, Minu and Sun Sun Lim (n.d.) Migrant workers’ use of ICTs for interpersonal coummunication-The experience of female domestic workers in Singapore. Communications and New Media Programme; National University of Singapore.

Buskens, Ineke and Anne Webb, eds. (2009) AFRICAN WOMEN AND ICTs: Investigating Technology, Gender and Empowerment. London: Zed Press. Chapter TBD Can be read on line http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-135944-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Westrup, Chris, Saheer Al Jaghoub, Heba El Sayed, Wei Liu (2002) Taking Culture Seriously: ICTs, Cultures and Development. School of Accounting and Finance, University of Manchester.