Department of Anthropology
ANTH815 Development Theory and Practice
4 postgraduate credit points
Convenor: Assoc. Professor Christopher Lyttleton
Offered: Semester 1
Course Content
This unit considers theoretical and practical issues involved in doing ‘development’. We will consider development from two different perspectives. Firstly, the anthropology of development that seeks to examine and understand why development processes have the effects they do and what are the issues at stake in the ways in which development variably affects individuals, societies and nation-states across the world. Secondly development anthropology, that takes the perspective of anthropologists actively involved in development projects and explores the wide range of factors that governs the impact of specific projects and their broader consequences.
The first section of the course looks at the different theoretical perspectives taken over the past four decades of development interactions between the so-called 1st and 3rd Worlds. Usually prescriptions born of these forms of theorising fall into two camps. On the one hand, we have the normative theories that prescribe some form of remedy based on moral and political vision of what being ‘developed’ entails. On the other hand, we have the populist or conspiracy theories that suggest to improve the livelihood of developing countries requires that the developed countries and multinationals stop exploiting the poorer countries. More recently theorists have argued that in a post-modern world there are no singular theories of development that can explain why societies have, or have not, taken their place on more equal footing in a globalised world. These contemporary notions of development see ‘power’ as the criteria that defines the access to, or exclusion from, the fruits of development.
The second section of the course looks at specific topics related to development practice as it takes place in numerous ‘3rd World’ settings. We will focus on how development projects are organised, what obstacles they face in their implementation and why the notion of ‘helping’ is, in fact, extremely problematic both in conception and practice. We will approach the notion that development is far from straightforward by considering specific topics such as gender and development, sustainable development and social capital, NGOs and consulting agencies, media and IEC campaigns, and humanitarian aid.
Seminars
Anth815 Semester-1 timetable
Assessment
- A book review of 1500 words (worth 30% of final grade).
- A theme essay of roughly 4000 words. This is to be an essay on a topic of your choice that relates to the issues raised by the course. During the final two weeks of semester each student will make a brief presentation of the contents and discussion that forms the basis of their essay. (Worth 70% of final grade).
Links
See the Postgraduate Handbook for more information about this anthropology unit.
Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio.