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Course Offerings

Course Details

Fall 2012-2013
* ANT 314 / ENE 314 (SA)   na, npdf

The Anthropology of Development

Carolyn M. Rouse

Why do development projects fail? This course examines why well-meaning development experts get it wrong. It looks closely at what anthropologists mean by culture and why most development experts fail to attend to the cultural forces that hold communities together. By examining development projects from South Asia to the United States, students learn the relevance of exchange relations, genealogies, power, religion, and indigenous law. This semester the class will focus on energy and water.

Sample reading list:
James Ferguson, Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order
J. Stephen Lansing, Priests and Programmers: Technologies of Power
David Mosse, The Rule of Water
Paige West, Conservation is our Government Now
Gilbert Rist, The History of Development
William Easterly, The White Man's Burden

Reading/Writing assignments:
Weekly précis; 100 pages of reading per week.

Requirements/Grading:
Mid Term Exam - 20%
Take Home Final Exam - 30%
Papers - 20%
Oral Presentation(s) - 20%
Class/Precept Participation - 10%

Schedule/Classroom assignment:

Class numberSectionTimeDaysRoomEnrollmentStatus
20965 S01 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm T Th   Aaron Burr Hall   219   Enrolled:22 Limit:40