Anthropology 340 - Anthro of Development

This course is an in-depth exploration of theories and strategies of international development as they have been applied in the Global South since the second half of the twentieth century. We will discuss the production of global inequality and the construction of parts of the world as underdeveloped through discourses and practices of development. Development strategies will be examined from a cultural and historical perspective. The course will pay significant attention to how the development problem and its solutions are constructed within differing theoretical frameworks such as liberal, Marxist, and poststructuralist frameworks in the field of development studies. We will examine the historical background of development by situating it within the rise and consolidation of capitalism and modernity. The impacts of the application of development models will be explored through ethnographic case studies. We conclude the course with an analysis of various attempts to rethink the development model by academics, activists, and communities in order to develop what might be termed post-development thought or alternative forms of development.

Requesite: ANTH 112. Limited to 25 students. Not open to first-year students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor Araujo.