Five College Consortium

Recent decades have seen unprecedented changes in the economic landscape of most developing nations. This course examines the gendered sites, processes and consequences of some of these changes: the spread of neoliberalism, the increased hold of globalization, the growing rampancy of economic and political crises, war and humanitarian disasters, and increasing disillusionment with the erstwhile promises of development. Using the entry point of gender, we will not only revisit age-old issues such as the international and intra-household division of labor, unequal access to resources, the impact of welfare cuts, economic crisis, and the feminization of migration, but also expand our analysis to new sites of upheaval such as the milieu of globalization, post-conflict and post-socialist transitions, environmental change, and popular movements for change/resistance. Throughout the course, the close nexus between economic, social and cultural processes will be explored. The course is appropriate for students interested in working in the area of international development, and for those concentrating in social science who would like an advanced introduction to the growing literature on gender in global development.