5-0054
Jennifer Ale- undergraduate TA
This course compares and contrasts the development styles of third world countries. It focuses on the political, economic, and cultural differences in developing countries of Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It will concentrate on the contrast between theoretical attempts to generalize solutions and the cultural differences that require understanding of the unique circumstances in each region. In addition to three textbooks on the Politics of Development, the required readings will include four novels from four of the major regions in the third world, which focus upon the culture of each society. In addition there are several readings that you can find on the Internet. You will need to pull these off and read so that you can discuss them in the appropriate classes.
There are eight books for you to purchase. We will be reading between 150 - 250 pages per week. The books are:
1. May-Lee Chai; MY LUCKY FACE
2. Rosario Castellanos; THE BOOK OF LAMINTATIONS
3. Robert H. Bates; PROSPERITY & VIOLENCE
4. Naguib Mahfouz; PALACE WALK
5. Deepa Narayan, et al; VOICES OF THE POOR; From Many Lands
6. Huntington &Harrison; CULTURE MATTERS
7. Chinua Achebe; NO LONGER AT EASE
8. Howard Wiarda; NON-WESTERN THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT
As you can see by looking at the books, we will mix fiction and theory to try to advance some key concepts through a rather varied historical background of the last 100 years. The real effort is to deal with ideals and with processes and to relate them to the real world as much as possible. There is a real need to see how well our theory stacks up against the last 100 years of events. Put another way is fact really stranger than fiction? Let’s find out together.
ASSIGNMENTS:
The course is structured in such a manner that you must participate daily in the discussions and debates. It is also structured so that you will turn in a variety of assignments, regularly, each aimed at giving you practice in expressing yourself in a group format (using the computer) or writing short pieces (5-7 pages, single spaced, 12pt) combining a review of fiction with a theoretical point of departure. The writing assignments are listed in the weekly assignments. Each paper is to be turned in on time! (electronically by 12 midnight of the assigned date) The format for writing your papers is to make sure that you develop a point from Bates, Wiarda, Voices of the Poor, or the Internet from which to examine the novels. As you read more than one novel, your reports need to be comparative across the cultures covered in the novels you have read so far. These book reports are rather special. You should relate the author’s story to the material in the class very seriously. This means that you need to cite and use the theoretical material in the three books and the Internet several times in your evaluation of the novel author’s treatment of the developmental problematic in the stories you read. You are being graded on your ability to integrate the readings, not on your proof of having just read a novel!
Some questions you might want to think about are:
§ What is the nature of the state in the country of the book?
§ What development problems are the characters facing?
§ What are the special cultural views of development, the state, and the role of politics in it?
§ What aspects of this culture will help the nation or region to fit into the global economy? Which aspects will make it harder to integrate?
You do not need to answer each question in each report, but you do need to think about these issues as you read the books. You should pick a particular topic from the theoretical literature and relate that to the novels. The topics you can choose among include: uneven development, ethnic conflict, religion and development, the role of women in development, agrarian reform and the politics of change, revolutionary change, globalism vs. localism, or the role of the cities vs. the role of rural communities in development. You need not be limited by these topics, choose any others that you have been dealing with in this class.
GROUP PRESENTATIONS:
You will be making three group presentations over the semester. One is the equivalent of a book report on one of the four books. You will also make a presentation on the country in which the action in the book takes place. The final group presentation will be on the developmental images of the region in which one of the books originates. Each presentation will be in PowerPoint slides and must be turned in on the Sunday prior to the presentation by midnight. I have put up on our class area a manual on how to develop better PowerPoint slides. Please use it carefully. CsU0WpDtB3dMWmgem7wKyR+No0zQCA2TOIQLoPkxVp5sqoF5AlAilh6lLtDvWDdwAA.pdf You need to use the slides to make major points not to read your notes from while they are up on the screen! You will be put into groups during the first week. Each group will be responsible for a presentation from each of three different areas.
Cairo the good, the bad, and the ugly.
As you can see, comparison of differences and similarities in the impact of culture upon development prospects is an important point of this class. We will also want to develop a real understanding of each country and the region within which it fits. You will be asked to participate in a group project to present a verbal discussion of a particular region and of the specific country upon which a particular novel focuses. We will want to do this as we read the novels so they are more understandable. We will also want to develop a comparative empirical review of the four regions and countries as we participate in the course.
The following break down will be used in calculating your grade:
1. Your 3 group presentations will each count 15%
2. Each of the three written reviews will count 15%
3. Your web chats will count 10%
This course attracts people from different backgrounds who celebrate religious holidays at different times. Please inform us within the first two weeks of class if you anticipate any conflicts between this class and religious obligations, so that we may make alternative arrangements.
Any student with a physical or learning disability should discuss with us appropriate accommodations.
All students should read and understand the university’s policy regarding cheating. In a word, DON’T.
Class presentations: There will be a class presentation on each of the four areas. You need to produce a PowerPoint presentation and present it in class. The presentation is to be divided between:
§ History of the poor in the country
§ Current economic situation
§ Current political situation
§ Unique cultural considerations important for understanding the novel
You will be expected to sign up for one of the four countries and to make a presentation on one of these topics. The presentations need to expand on the previous class discussions with regard to your region and focus upon what the class needs to know to do a good job in their book reviews.
The second class presentation is on the book report. You will have to sign up for making one of your presentations as a group project in power point. This time you need not turn in a book report. Your grade will come from the class presentation. You need to cover the same topics as you would when you write a report:
§ What is the nature of the poor in the country of the book?
§ What development problems are the characters facing?
§ What are the special cultural views of development, the state, and the role of politics in it?
§ What aspects of this culture will help the nation or region to fit into the global economy?
§ Which aspects will make it harder to integrate?
The third class presentation is on the images of development for a specific region. Here your group will be asked to comment upon the Issues in Appendix 3 of From Many Lands:
Exploring Wellbeing
Problems and Priorities
Institutional Analysis
Gender Relations
Lets review the requirements:
§ Three individually written Book Reviews comparing the culture of development in the region with the novel. (45% of the grade).
§ Three Group Projects, one looking at the culture of development in the region another, discussing the developmental situation in the country of the novel, and a final a group presentation of the novel and development. (45% of the grade).
Assignments
Week of Jan. 27;
Visions of Development and Voices of the Poor
Jan 28, Tues. Wiarda, chap. 1, Bates, Chap. 1,
Jan 30, Thurs. CULTURE MATTERS;
Foreword, Introduction
http://www.openair.org/cross/smlegypt.html
Feb 4;Culture & Development
Feb 4, Tues. CM; chap 1 -4
Feb 6, Thurs. From Many Lands chap 1, appendix 3.
Feb 11; Islamic Models of Development
Tues. Feb 11 Wiarda, Chap. 6; FML, chap 5
Thurs. Feb 13 Group 1 presentation; Islam Arab
development Images
http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/mna/mena.nsf
http://www.al-islam.org/restatement/
Ch; 46,56,74
http://msanews.mynet.net/Scholars/Ragab/develop.htmlhttp://members.fortunecity.com/mohamedbali/cantori.htm
http://www.openair.org/cross/egyptinf.html
http://www.openair.org/cross/infwomen.html
Feb 17; PALACE WALK
Feb 25; Paths to Development
Tues, Feb 25; Bates, Chap. 2 , 3, & 4.
Thurs. Feb 27; CM; 10,11,12
March 4; The Poor
Tues. March 4; FMLs chap 2/6/7; CM; 13
Thurs, March 6; FMLs chap 14/15
March 11; Latin America’s search for a model and theory of development
Tues. March 11; Wiarda, chap 4; FMLs, chap 12,13.
http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1997_hrp_report/mexico.html
http://www.cs.unb.ca/~alopez-o/politics/deep.html
http://www.cs.unb.ca/~alopez-o/politics/roots.html
Thurs. March 13; Group 4 presentation;
Latino Development Images
CM, chap 5, 14
http://www.usaid.gov/pubs/cp2000/lac/mexico.html
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/external/lac/lac.nsf
March 17; THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS
Second assignment: book report due March 23th on this book
Tues. March 18; Group 1 presentation: Mexico
http://www.economist.com/countries/Mexico/?CFID=80608&CFTOKEN=22178687
Thurs. March 20; Group 2 presentation: Latino Images and the Novel
SPRING BREAK MARCH 24 - 28
April 7; Sub-Saharan Africa
Tues. April 8 Wiarda, chap. 5; CM chap 6; FMLs chap. 3.
Wider # 2001 - 38
http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/publications.htm
Wider # 2001 - 86
http://members.fortunecity.com/mohamedbali/ulhaq.htm
Thurs., April 10 Group 3 presentation; African Development Images
http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/afr/afr.nsf
FML, chap. 2,3,4,
April 14; NO LONGER AT EASE
April 21; Why have some countries developed more rapidly than others have?
Tues. April 22; Wiarda, chap. 9; FMLs chap. 16.
Thurs. April 24; CM, chap 7/8/9
April 28; Asian models of Development
Tues. April 29; Wiarda, chap. 2 & 3; CM chap 17/18/19.
Wider #2001 - 40
http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/publications.htm
Wider World Development Studies #14
http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/publications.htm
http://www.economist.com/library/focus/displayStory.cfm?story_id=780479&CFID=80608&CFTOKEN=22178687
Thurs. May 1; Group 2 presentation; Asian Developmental Images
http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/eap/eap.nsf
May 5; MY LUCKY FACE
Fourth assignment: book report due May 11 on this book
Asian Images & the novel
May 12; Summing UP
Tues. May 13
CM chap. 20,21,22