Module GEOG2541: GEOGRAPHIES OF DEVELOPMENT

Department: Geography

GEOG2541: GEOGRAPHIES OF DEVELOPMENT

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• The module provides students with a critical understanding of:
• The changing and diverse ways in which geographers have theorised the spatiality of development
• The history of development theories, strategies and ideologies
• The changing geopolitical and geoeconomic contexts of development
• The ways in which development is lived, experienced and resisted in the ‘everyday’

Content

• Critical geographical approaches to development
• Theories, ideologies and strategies of development past and present
• Orientalism and tropical geographies; postcolonialism and development
• Everyday geographies of the global South; labour, livelihoods and the gendering of of development
• The changing geographies of trade, production and development co-operation and the rise of ‘new’ development donors and actors
• The geopolitics of development
• Geographies of resistance and alternatives to development
• Media cultures, development and the environment

Learning Outcomes

• Students are expected to be able to:
• Understand key theories, ideologies and strategies of development past and present
• Trace the emergence and evolution of geographical approaches to development
• Appreciate the geographical contingencies of development experience in the global South

• On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
• Show an appreciation of the spatiality of development
• Analyse a range of contemporary development debates through an engagement with relevant theoretical frameworks and empirical experiences
• Think critically about contemporary development theory and practice

• On completion of the module students will be able to:
• Demonstrate an ability to formulate critical and sophisticated arguments and analysis
• Demonstrate a capacity to communicate effectively in written assignments
• Demonstrate an ability to evaluate and synthesise information obtained from a variety of sources
• Demonstrate a capacity to evaluate the merits of contrasting theoretical and conceptual approaches
• Demonstrate an understanding of both the theoretical debates and empirical issues through case studies and grounded examples

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The lectures will introduce students to the concepts, theories and contemporary issues of development and its geographies
• In their independent learning, including reading widely, students will deepen their understanding of different perspectives on development
• Small group discussion and debate in seminars will allow students to work through theoretical understandings introduced in lectures and apply such understandings to contemporary examples
• Examination and coursework will test critical understanding of concepts and critical thinking

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

An individual 2 x side A4 written report containing an evaluation and critique of selected key articles.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University