General information

• Study points: 6.00
• Language: English
• Category: Lectures
• Duration: 39.0 hours 
• Periodicity: Taught in the first semester
• POC: POC Antropologie

Taught by

Cassiman Ann

Aims

By the end of the seminar, students should:

• be familiar with the major development concepts and their cultural-historical context
  
  
• be able to analyze development-related issues from an anthropological perspective
  
  
• know how to search and critically read articles and scholarly texts within a larger “development and cultures” framework
  
  
• know how to appraise the complexity of development concepts and practices
  
  
• have appropriated a culture-sensitive perspective on development issues
  
  
• know how to engage with one of the discussed themes in an interdisciplinary team: how to gather information, critically analyze it, and present it in a professional way

Content

Starting from a critical reflection on the main concepts of development and culture(s), the seminar zooms in on development discourse, the anthropology of development, ethnographies of aid, the world of NGOs, various types of development workers and the wider context of development and mobility. The seminar ends by reviewing and discussing various scholarly critiques of development. While some of the reading materials used are theoretical, others include concrete case studies from across the world.

Course Material

Course information and documents (powerpoints, outlines of lectures, articles and other literature) on Toledo
Calendar with agenda on Toledo, articles in reader, suggested reading.

Course activities

- Students follow the lectures and actively participate
- Students perform tasks: the critical reading of texts in preparation of lectures, distilling arguments from the texts to use during debates and group works in class
- Elaborate and analyze a pregiven theme in group work
- Produce a paper and a presentation in a small group
- Coherently and clearly present group work results for the larger student group during classes

Evaluation description

Examination type:
    written
When?: continuous evaluation
Evaluation type:
    Paper
    Presentation
    Participation

Explanation

Grades will be calculated based on an evaluation of the following elements:
(1) Class participation: Mandatory and extra reading materials are assigned per seminar session (see syllabus) and are available in electronic format via Toledo (http://toledo.kuleuven.be/). Every seminar participant is expected to have carefully read the assigned texts prior to the seminar and should participate actively in the discussions of the materials during the seminar. Points for participation and attendance will be given for a combination of presence in class, contribution to discussions, preparation of assignments, the presentation of assignments (in groups) and active listening when other class members are speaking.
(2) Final paper: In consultation with the course instructor, all students will write a final paper, between 5000 and 6000 words in length (excluding references). The topic should be closely related to the issues presented throughout the course (see syllabus). Students are expected to demonstrate that they are capable of personally and critically reflecting on one or more of the issues dealt with throughout the course in a  creative way. The writing style should be like a standard academic journal article (see the articles used in the seminar for examples). The paper should have a title, abstract and keywords; an introduction, middle part and conclusions; footnotes; and a reference list (articles, chapters from books, monographs, etc.). References should include both materials used in the seminar and additional ones selected by the student. Review papers and mere summaries of other texts are not accepted. Rather, the paper should articulate a clear research question or problem (related to and embedded within cultural anthropology and development studies) and build up a structured argument, leading to a conclusion. This written assignment will be evaluated for content, quality of writing, and format.
Students must propose their title, preliminary abstract and literature through email before Monday 5 December 2011. A print copy of the paper needs to be deposited in the mailbox at the Anthropology Secretary’s Office (SW 04.52) no later than the very first day of the Exam Session. Papers submitted after this date will be considered in the August/September exam period. 

Evaluation type:
Class participation: 25%
Final paper: 75%
TOTAL: 100%