Senior Seminar: Sustainable Development in the Modern World System

GDS 395.01

Lecture:         T/TH:  2:15-4:05                     Instructor:     Monty Roper

Goodnow Hall Rm 109                                     305 Goodnow Hall

Office phone: 269-3017

e-mail: roperjm@grinnell.edu

Office Hours:  9-11 M-F.  During office hours, anyone is welcome to stop by without an appointment.  I will also be happy to schedule appointments during non-office hours.  If you are having problems with course materials for any reason, I strongly encourage you to come see me.  If you need to get in touch with me and are unable to do so by phone (or prefer not to), you can e-mail me.  I check my e-mail regularly, though you should not assume that I have received your message until you receive a confirmation from me.

Note on the Syllabus: While I have mapped out a tentative schedule below, I am leaving the plan for this course somewhat flexible.  While we will certainly address most of the topics listed below, much of this syllabus is tentative.  I am likely to either add or subtract readings over the course of the semester.  We may even add or eliminate entire topics.  Much will depend on how the dynamics of the class fall into place – especially the discussion and interactions between all of you.  We will discuss any possible changes in class.

Course Description and Goals: The Concept of “Sustainable Development” is a very broad and fairly vague.  It has been used by economists, ecologists, grassroots organizations and major institutions of development, yet the meanings that each group applies to the term vary.  Generally, sustainable development has been accepted to refer to issues of both social equity and environmental considerations in the process of “development”.  This class will take an interdisciplinary social science approach and focus primarily on the later aspect of sustainable development.  We will consider what development is or should be, how and why the concept of sustainability became prevalent in the dominant discourse on development, some of the varying meanings applied to this concept, as well as some of the contradictions or inconsistencies in the concept.  We will then explore a number of key issues and debates at the boundary of economic/social development, natural resource management, and environmental degradation.  We are focusing on only a handful of issues and topics in this class out of a broad range of possibilities.  We will primary focus on these concerns within the so-called “third world” (developing, lesser developed, etc.) countries.

This class is a senior seminar.  It is YOUR senior seminar.  I am here to help provide you with a set of readings to stimulate discussion and to serve as a kind of in-class moderator and resident devil’s advocate.  I may briefly lecture on particular topics or talk about my own experiences, but you should think of this class foremost as a kind of structured reading group.  Your responsibility is to come to class prepared to discuss the readings, raise questions, argue for or against certain positions, and stimulate one-another to come up with fresh ideas.  You should be able to build on past readings in your consideration of topics as well as bring in your own experiences.  Many of you have done internships, taken other relevant classes, and traveled to “third world” countries, and you should bring these experiences to the discussion.  It is your responsibility just as much as it is mine to make this class work.  Everyone should feel free to participate openly in class.  There are no taboo ideas or subjects, even if they may be labeled un-PC outside of the class.  The classroom is a forum for open discussion and debate.  Everyone should help to support an atmosphere where diverging and conflicting ideas from within the class can be heard and considered.  There are few “right” answers or theories concerning the material that we are discussing.  As we will see, educated academics disagree on many of the underlying assumptions of development and environmental issues, not to mention more specific hot topics.

Required Texts:

1.     Worldwatch Institute 2002  State of the World 2002.  W.W. Norton & Company.

2.     Luiz C. Barbosa  2000  The Brazilian Amazon Rainforest:  Global Ecopolitics, Development and Democracy.  University Press of America.

Reserved Readings

One copy of reserved readings will be available in the library and one in the anthropology reading room on the 3^rd floor of Goodnow Hall.

Course Requirements

1.     Reading Journal: (20% of grade) Each of you will keep an electronic written journal of comments and questions on, and responses to the readings that must include the following:  Prior to each class period, students must prepare at least 3 questions concerning the readings (these may relate to disagreements that you have, arguments that you feel are unclear or poorly made, contradictions in the materials, or any other kind of question that occurs to you).  In addition, once per week you must turn in a 1-2 page (single-spaced) response to the readings for that day.  (You are exempt from this, but not the questions, on the week that you participate in a debate.)  This might include a summary of the readings, ideas raised during the readings, a response to the argument of the various authors, quotes or data that you found particularly useful or interesting, how the articles relate or might be useful to your own experiences or primary interests, etc.  These must be turned into me by e-mail before class, or presented to me in class with an e-mail to follow.

2.     Final Paper : (30% of grade) Each of you will write a research paper that examines an aspect of unsustainable development or environmental degradation that is taking place in a particular part of the world, and provides a sustainable development solution.  I will provide a fairly rigid format that all of the papers must follow.

3.     Debates: (2 at 15% each – 30% total) We will have four debates in this class.  Each will serve as a structured discussion of a contentious issue.  Each student will participate in two of these.  The topics and nature of the debates will be decided upon in class.

4.     Participation:  (20%) (See discussion of participation in course description and goals above.)

(Subject to Modification)

Jan 22       Course Overview and Discussion of Debates

Jan 24       A Need for Development?

·       John Isbister 1998  “Promises Not Kept: The Betrayal of Social Change in the Third World”, Ch 1: “Introduction” & Ch 2: “A World of Poverty”

·       J. Passé-Smith  1993  “The Persistence of the Gap: Taking Stock of Economic Growth in the Post-World War II Era.”

·       Oscar Lewis 1968  “A Study of Slum Culture: Backgrounds for La Vida”

Jan 29       The Orthodox View: From Modernization to Neoliberalism

·       John M. Staatz and Carl K. Eicher  1993  “Agricultural Development Ideas in Historical Perspective.”  In C. Eicher and J. Staatz (eds.) Agricultural Development in the Third World.  Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.  Pp:3-38. 

·       W.W. Rostow, 1960 "The stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto."  In J. Timmons Roberts and Amy Hite,  2000  From Modernization to Globalization: Perspectives on Development and Social Change.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp:100-109

·       Robert H. Bates  1993  “Governments and Agricultural Markets in Africa.” In M. Seligson and J. Passé-Smith (eds.), Development & Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Inequality.  Pp:333-346.

·       Lawrence Harrison  1985  Underdevelopment Is a State of Mind.  Ch 1 (What Makes Development Happen) & 9 (What it all Means).

Jan 31       Dependency and World Systems Theory Respond

·       David Korten, When Corporations Rule the World.  Ch. 3: The Growth Illusion.

·       A.G. Frank, "The Development of Underdevelopment."  In J. Timmons Roberts and Amy Hite,  2000  From Modernization to Globalization: Perspectives on Development and Social Change.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp: 159-168.

·       T. dos Santos, “The Structure of Dependence” In M. Seligson and J. Passé-Smith (eds.), Development & Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Inequality.  Pp: 193-202.

·       Bruce Rich  1996  “World Bank/IMF: 50 Years is Enough.” In C.R. Goddard, J.T. Passé-Smith, and J.G. Conklin (eds.), International Political Economy: State-Market Relations in the Changing Global Order.  Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.  Pp:305-313.

Feb 5         Linking Development and the Environment: The Rise of Sustainable Development

·       World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future.  Ch 1 (A Threatened Future) & Ch 2 (Towards Sustainable Development)

·       H. Roseland, (Ch1) “The Context for Sustainable Communities” (From: Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and their Governments)

·       UN Human Development Report Ch. 1, “The Concept and Measurement of Human Development”.

Feb 7 -12         Sustainable Development: Contested Meanings and Contradictions

·       Robert Solow, "Sustainability: An Economist's Perspective"

·       Arturo Escobar  1995  Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World.  Ch. 5 (Power and Visibility: Tales of Peasants, Women and the Environment) Pp: 192-211.

·       Bob Sutcliffe  1995  “Development After Ecology.”  In J. Timmons Roberts and Amy Hite,  2000  From Modernization to Globalization: Perspectives on Development and Social Change.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp:328-339.

·       Stephen R. Dovers  1993  “Contradictions in Sustainability.”  Environmental Conservation 20(3):217-222.

·       Vernon W. Ruttan  “Sustainability is Not Enough.”  In C. Eicher and J. Staatz (eds.) Agricultural Development in the Third World.  Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.  Pp: 400-404.

·       M. Douglas 1975  “Environments at Risk” In, M. Douglas  Implicit Meanings: Essays in Anthropology

                  Development as Freedom

·       United Nations Development Programme 2000  Human Development Report 2000.  Overview and Ch.1 (Human Rights and Human Development)

Feb 14 – 19     Population, Social Change and Carrying Capacity

·              John Bennett “The Ecological Transition: From Equilibrium to Disequalibrium.”

·       Meggers, B.J. 1974  Environment and culture in Amazonia.  In Charles Wagley (ed.), Man in the Amazon. Gainseville: University of Florida Press.  Pp. 91-110.

·       Ester Boserup “Environment, Population and Technology in Primitive Societies.”

·       Fred Hoyle “A Contradiction in the Argument of Malthus”

·       Norman Myers and Julian Simon  1994  Scarcity or Abundance: A Debate on the Environment.  Ch.2. Simon: Population Growth is Not Bad for Humanity; and Ch3 Myers: The Population Factor.

·       SOW Chapter 6.  B. Enelman, B. Halweil and D. Nierenberg.  “Rethinking Population, Improving Lives”

·       G. Daily and P. Ehrlich, “Population, Sustainability, and Earth’s Carrying Capacity”

·       R. Ridker, “Population Issue”

Feb 21             Common Property Management

·              Hardin, G.  1968  The Tragedy of the Commons.  Science V. 162, Dec. 13, 68.  PP. 1243-1248.

·              McCabe, J. Terrence  1990  Turkana Pastoralism: A Case Against the Tragedy of the Commons.  Human Ecology 18(1):81-103.

·              Bromley, Daniel W.  1989  Property Relations and Economic Development:  The Other Land Reform.  World Development 17(6):867-877.

·              McCay, Bonnie J., and James Acheson (eds.), 1987  The Question of the Commons: The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

·       Ostrom, Elinor  1990  Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.  New York:  Cambridge University Press.

·              McCay, B.  1992  Everyone's Concern, Whose Responsibility? The Problem of the Commons.  In S. Ortiz and S. Lees (eds.) Understanding Economic Process.  Monographs in Economic Anthropology, #10.

·       Bromley, Daniel W.  1992  Making the Commons Work: Theory, Practice, and Policy.  San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies.

Feb 26-28        Agrarian reform

·              Ghose, Ajit Kumar  1983  Agrarian Reform in Developing Countries: Issues of Theory and Problems of Practice.  In A. K. Ghose (ed.), Agrarian Reform in Contemporary Developing Countries.  Pp:3-28.

·              Thiesenhusen, William (ed)  1989  Searching for Agrarian Reform in Latin America.  Boston: Unwin Hyman.  (Introduction)

·              Findley, S.  1988  Colonist Constraints, Strategies, and Mobility: Recent Trends in Latin American Frontier Zones.  In A.S. Oberai (ed.), Land Settlement Policies and population Redistribution in Developing Countries.  New York, NY: Praeger. Pp. 271-316. 

·              Lipton, Michael  1993  Land Reform as Commenced Business: The Evidence Against Stopping.  World Development 21(4):641-657.

·              Bromley, R.J.  1981  The Colonization of Humid Tropical Areas in Ecuador. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography (2):15-26.

March 5          DEBATE 1 – Land, Tenure and Agriculture

March 7-12     Policy, Power and Local Land Use – Political Ecology

·              Blaikie, Piers, and Harold Brookfield  1987  Land Degradation and Society.  New York: Methuen.  (Introduction)

·              Stonich, Susan  1993  I am Destroying the Land.  The Political Ecology of Poverty and Environmental Destruction in Honduras.  Boulder: Westview Press.  (Introduction)

·              Bates, Robert  1990  The Political Framework for Agricultural Policy Decisions.  In C. Eicher and J. Staatz (eds.), Agricultural Development in the Third World.  Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.  Pp. 154-159.

·              Chapman, M.D.   1989  "The Political Ecology of Fisheries Depletion in Amazonia."  Environmental Conservation 16(4):331-337.

Globalization Sustainable Development

March 14        Globalization and its Impacts

·       Film: Hungry for Profit

·       Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins  “Why Can’t People Feed Themselves?”

·       Korten, When Corporations Rule the World

·       Kenichi Ohmae  2000  “The End of the Nation State.” In, F. Lechner and J. Boli (eds.), The Globalization Reader.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp:207-211.

·       NGO Taskforce on Business & Industry  1997  “Minding Our Business:  The Role of Corporate Accountability in Sustainable Development.”

·       Hilary French  2000  Vanishing Borders: Protecting the Planet in the Age of Globalization

·       World Commission on Environment and Development  2000 “From One Earth to One World” In, F. Lechner and J. Boli (eds.), The Globalization Reader.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp:374-380.

April 2-4         International Governance and Oversight

·       SOW Chapter 8.  Hilary French “Reshaping Global Governance”.

·       SOW Chapter 2.  Seth Dunn and Christopher Flavin “Moving the Climate Change Agenda Forward”.

·       UN Conference on Environment and Development  2000  “Rio Declaration on Environment and Development” In, F. Lechner and J. Boli (eds.), The Globalization Reader.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp:381-384.

·       Paul Wapner  2000  “Greenpeace and Political Globalism.” In, F. Lechner and J. Boli (eds.), The Globalization Reader.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp:385-391.

·       Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink  2000  “Environmental Advocacy Networks.” In, F. Lechner and J. Boli (eds.), The Globalization Reader.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp:392-399.

·       Jackie Smith  2000  “Building Political Will after UNCED: EarthAction International.” In, F. Lechner and J. Boli (eds.), The Globalization Reader.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.  Pp:400-405.

April 9                        DEBATE - Free Trade/TNCS and Sustainable Development

Local Knowledge, Participation and Grassroots Development

April 11    Local People and Participation

·       C. Kottak, “When People Don’t Come First: Some Sociological Lessons from Completed Projects”

·       Stephen Lansing, Priests and Programmers 1991

·       A. Bebbington, “Modernization from Below”

·              Read: K. Rao and C. Geisler, “The Social Consequences of Protected Ares Development for Resident Populations”

April 16-18                 Indigenous Peoples, the Environment and Development

·       Leslie E. Sponsel  1995  “Relationships Among the World System, Indigenous Peoples, and Ecological Anthropology in the Endangered Amazon.”  In L. Sponsel (ed.), Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia.  Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.  Pp:263-293.

·       F. Pichón, J. Uquillas, and J. Frechione (eds.)  1999  Traditional and Modern Natural Resource Management in Latin America

·       Stan Stevens (ed)  1997  Conservation Through Cultural Survival

·       Posey, D., John Frechione, John Eddins, Luiz Francelino da Silva, with Debbie Myers, & Diane Case, and Peter MacBeath 1984 "Ethnoecology as Applied Anthropology in Amazonian Development," Human Organization 43(2):95-107.

·              DeWalt, Billie R. 1994  Using Indigenous Knowledge to Improve Agriculture and Natural Resource Magagement.  Human Organization 53(2):123-131.

·       Fisher, W. H. 1994 "Megadevelopment, Environmentalism, and Resistance: The Institutional Context of Kayapó Indigenous Politics in Central Brazil," Human Organization 53(3):220-232.

April 23          Debate 3 – Grassroots Development (Macro/Micro)

·       Possible Background Readings:

·       Annis, S. 1987 "The Next World Bank? Financing Development from the Bottom Up," Grassroots Development 11(1):24-29.

·       Clay, J. W. 1987 "Editorial: Grassroots Development - More Sunshine and Rain, Less Seed," CS Quarterly 11(1):2.

·       D. Stiles, “Classical Versus Grassroots Development”

·       Read: S. McGaughey, “Multilateral Banks and Sustainable Development”

April 25-30     Applied Anthropology and Sustainable Development

·              Burton, Michael, G. Mark Schoepfle, and Marc L. Miller  1986  Natural Resource Anthropology.  Human Organization 45(3):261‑269.

• Read: A. Escobar, “Anthropology and the Development Encounter: the Making and Marketing of Development Anthropology”

• Read: B.R. DeWalt, “Halfway There: Social Science in Agricultural Development and the Social Science of Agricultural Development”

·              Barlett, Peggy (ed.)  1980  Agricultural decision making: Anthropological contributions to rural development.  New York: Academic Press.

·              Bennett, John W.  1996  Human Ecology as Human Behavior: Essays in environmental and development anthropology.  New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.  (This is a very good "life's work" collection).

May 2-9    Case Study: The Political Ecology of Tropical Forest Development in Amazonia

·       Readings TBA