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Development and Underdevelopment
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| Class participation | 10% |
| Midterm exam | 25 |
| Paper I | 20 |
| Paper II | 20 |
| Final exam | 25 |
Assignments In addition to midterm and final exams, you are required to produce two short (5-7 pages) papers, each worth 20 percent of the final grade. Paper topics should be related, so that the second paper builds on the material presented in the first paper. Topics will be chosen by the student in consultation with the instructor, but possible options include:
1. Country focus
Paper I: profile of Pacific Island nation X, outlining key characteristics, colonial history, structure of economy etc.
Paper II: Development issues in country X. Discussion of key development issues facing the country, indicating originals and possible solutions.
2. Issue focus
Paper I: regional overview of issue X, outlining its nature, origins, and regional distribution.
Paper II: Focused, in-depth discussion of a particular aspect of the issue.
Schedule:
A one-page description of proposed paper topics: due 10/1
Paper I due 11/7
Paper II due 12/12
COURSE OUTLINE
8/27 Orientation
A discussion of the course structure, requirements and
expectations
8/29 Pacific Islands Development
General introduction to the region, development trends and
issues
Required reading
Victoria Lockwood, "An Introduction to Contemporary Pacific
Societies," Contemporary Pacific Societies. Rowan
Callick "Pacific 2010: A Doomsday Scenario?"
9/3 Poverty and plenty Overview of the nature, extent, and global distribution of poverty in the world today.
Required reading
Promises Not Kept, Chapters 1 and 2.
9/5 The promise of "development"
Where did the idea of "development" come from? What
was to be achieved? How was it to be achieved, and by whom'?
Required reading
Promises Not Kept, Chapter 3 (to be discussed next time)
9/10 Explanations of underdevelopment
A survey of three major (and competing) theoretical
approaches to understanding the nature and causes of
underdevelopment.
Required reading
Promises Not Kept, Chapter 3
CASE STUDY I: FRENCH POLYNESIA
9/12 Colonialism and development in French Polynesia
The changing nature of French colonialism and its impact on
the peoples and cultures of these tiny islands.
Required reading
Ben Finney "Nuclear Hostages," From Sea to Space
9/17 Hotu Painu: Poison Fruit
Video on the effects of nuclear testing,, and colonization
9/19 Poverty and plenty in French Polynesia
French Polynesia enjoys one of the highest standards of
living in the region. However, is this real. sustainable
development, or simply a product of the massive subsidies from
metropolitan France? Are the costs and benefits of this
"welfare state colonialism" evenly or unevenly
distributed among the population?
Required reading
Victoria Lockwood, "Welfare State Colonialism in Rural
French Polynesia," Contemporary Pacific Societies. Profiles
and interviews from Tahiti: The Other Side.
9/24 Measuring development
If development" is the goal, we need to know what it is
and how it can be measured. A look at the concept of "Human
Development" proposed by the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP)
Required reading
Pacific Human Development Report, Summary and Chapter
1.
9/26 Human development in the Pacific Islands
An overview of the development situation in the Pacific
Islands, as measured by UNDP indicators.
Required reading
Pacific Human Development Report, Chapter 2
CASE STUDY II: PAPUA NEW GUINEA HIGHLANDS
10/1 The legacy of imperialism
The development experience the Pacific islands, as with other
parts of the third world, has been shaped in fundamental ways by
the forces of colonialism and imperialism. We need to understand
the legacy of imperialism if we are to understand the
contemporary dynamics of development. A dramatic look at the
beginnings of the colonial experience in the Highlands of New
Guinea through the video First Contact.
Required reading
Promises Not Kept, Chapter 4.
10/3 Development and tradition
Conflicts between "traditional" and
"modern" values in the process of development,
dramatically illustrated in the video "Joe Leahy's
Neighbours" set in the Highlands of New Guinea.
Required reading
Suzanna Layton, "Joe Leahy's Neighbours"
10/8 Fighting Development
Coffee prices and tribal fighting cause a development debacle
in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea in Black Harvest, the
video sequel to Joe Leahy's Neighbours.
Required reading
Ben Finney "From the Stone Age to the Age of Corporate
Takeovers"
10/10 Economic development
According to the conventional wisdom, the single most
important aspect of development is economic growth. However, few
third world countries have achieved this goal. Furthermore, it is
clear that rapid economic growth does not necessarily alleviate
the symptoms of underdevelopment.
Required readings
Promised Not Kept, Chapter 6
CASE STUDY III: STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT IN FIJI
10/15 The colonial heritage in Fiji
For most of this century Fiji's economy has been dominated by
the production of sugar for export to Europe. Some implications
for the indigenous peoples of Fiji and the descendants of
migrants from India who were brought in to work the plantations,
and who now comprise about 50 percent of the population.
10/17 Post-coup development strategies
In recent years, and especially since the 1987 military
coups, there has been a concerted attempt to diversify the
economy through the promotion of other export industries. What
are the costs and benefits of this type of development, and to
whom?
Required readings
Rajesh Chandra, "Contemporary Industrialization in
Fiji," The Margin Fades.
A Haroon Akran-Lodhi "Structural Adjustment in Fiji
under the Interim Government, 1 987- 1 992."
10/22 Midterm Exam
CASE STUDY IV: WESTERN SAMOA
10/24 Tradition and development in Western Samoa
Poor by conventional development standards, and with few
exploitable resources, the prospects of Western Samoa achieving
rapid economic growth seem remote. Yet traditional cultural
values remain strong, and everybody retains access to a village
life of "subsistence affluence."
Required reading
Tim O'Meara "The Cult of Custom Meets the Search for Money
in Western Samoa," Contemporary Pacific Societies.
10/29 Exporting people
Large numbers of Samoans now live in New Zealand, Australia,
Hawai'i, and on the West Coast of the US. Why has this occurred
and what are the implications for development?
Required reading
Paul Shankman "The Samoan Exodus," Contemporary
Pacific Societies. Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop "If I plant a
tree, will my children be here to see it grow?"
11/5 Holiday
11/7 Sustainable development and the environment
Environmental concerns have led international development
agencies to emphasize the idea of "sustainable
development." What does this mean? How is it different from
previous formulae? Is it adequate?
Required reading
Bruce Rich Mortgaging the Earth, pp 196-199; Chapter 9.
'Atu Emberson-Bain "Introduction: sustaining the
unsustainable?"
CASE STUDY V: MINING THE PACIFIC
11/12 Mining and development
Large-scale mining and its impacts in Melanesia
Required reading
'Atu Emberson-Bain "De-romancing the stones: Gender,
environment and mining in the Pacific''
11/14 Broken Hearts and Promises
Video about villagers attempts to obtain compensation for
environmental damage caused by the giant Ok Tedi copper and gold
mine in Papua New Guinea
Required reading
David Hyndman "Zipping down the fly on the Ok Tedi
project," Mining and Indigenous People in Australasia.
CASE STUDY VI: LOGGING THE PACIFIC
11/19 Logging and development
Logging and its impacts in the Pacific
Required reading
Kathy Barlow "Introduction," special issue of The
Contemporary Pacific on logging.
11/21 The politics of forestry management in Papua New
Guinea
Video about attempts to control the activities of Malaysian
logging companies in Papua New Guinea
Required readings
Kathy Barlow "Regulating the forest industry in Papua New
Guinea," The Contemporary Pacific.
CASE STUDY VII: TOURISM
11/26 Tourism: global context
The nature and impact of global tourism.
Required reading
David Harrison "Tourism, capitalism and development in
less developed countries"
11/28 Holiday
12/5 Tourism in the Pacific
Does tourism promote development in the Pacific Islands?
Required reading
Konai Helu-Thaman "Beyond hula, hotels, and handicrafts: a
Pacific Islander's perspective of tourist development"
Haunani-Kay Trask "Lovely hula hands: corporate tourism and
the prostitution of Hawaiian culture"
12/10 The North-South dimension
What role should the developed, first-world countries of the
North play in the development of the third world countries of the
South? Do present policies represent part of the solution or part
of the problem?
Required reading
Promises Not Kept, Chapter 7
12/3 Investing in Human Development
A look at UNDP's recommendation for investing in human
development in the Islands.
Required reading
Pacific Human Development Report, Chapter 3
"Investing in Human-Development in the Pacific''
12/12 Future prospects
What is the prognosis for the world's poor and deprived in
the 21st Century?
Required reading
Promises Not Kept, Chapter 8
[Subject: Development Studies; Pacific/Comparative]
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