COMPULSORY MODULES
WARS AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES
Code:
DEV-6003A
Credits:
20
Since the late 1950s, far more wars have been fought within the boundaries of single states than between different countries. The occurrence of these violent intrastate conflicts poses significant challenges to the development agenda, as they have often devastating social, political and economic consequences that can lead to severe humanitarian crises. Grounded in the acknowledgment that it is extremely difficult to meet international development targets in states experiencing violent civil conflict, the aim of Wars & Humanitarian Crises is to critically assess the (contested) causes and possible solutions of protracted civil wars. Key themes in the module include competing explanations for the incidence of civil war; the humanitarian implications of civil wars; the role of the media in reporting wars and humanitarian action; terrorism as another form of political violence that is distinct from but in many cases related to violent intrastate conflicts; and strategies and challenges of peace-building.
OPTIONAL A MODULES (Min Credits: 20, Max Credits: 40)
DISSERTATION
Code:
DEV-6007Y
Credits:
40
The dissertation will provide you with an opportunity to undertake a research project on a topic within development studies in consultation with your supervisor. It is intended to complement the more conventional methods of coursework and examination assessment, allowing you to investigate and consider themes and issues of importance to you in more depth. The dissertation is not an extended essay; rather it is a (social) scientific piece of research that sets out a clear question and methods, and develops a coherent argument based on a review of existing and/or interpretation of fresh evidence, and application to theory. Please note, the dissertation is restricted to International Development and Environmental Geography & International Development students.
DEVELOPMENT WORK PLACEMENT
Code:
DEV-6005A
Credits:
20
This module will provide you with the opportunity to work overseas or in the UK, for example working in education, conservation, agriculture, working with vulnerable groups, administration or journalism. You are expected to fund your own project, which must be approved by the module convenor. The School has a database of projects to assist you with your project selection. The work placement can be between 2 - 5 months duration, over a period stretching from the summer (June) at the end of year two through to the end of the autumn semester of year three (November/December). You are expected to work for a minimum of two months and complete 150 hours of work as a minimum requirement. There are two pieces of assessment: an initial reflective piece of writing about the placement, and an essay related to the placement or project work.
OPTIONAL B MODULES (Credits: 20)
MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Code:
DEV-6014A
Credits:
20
This module offers students of different DEV streams the opportunity to combine a critical understanding of development theory and practice with the increasingly important and related field of global migration. Students will be encouraged to interrogate academic and public discourses around the topic and to reflect on how various social, economic and political forces influence migration patterns and trends, but also how these are navigated by migrants themselves. The module addresses different forms of migration, why these take place, and the impact they have on migrants, and on destination and origin societies. There is a focus on international migration, but the module also covers internal migration. Befitting the interdisciplinary character of DEV, the module draws on insights on migration from across the social sciences, and the discipline of history.
GLOBAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Code:
DEV-5019A
Credits:
20
This module will develop your theoretical and empirical understanding of how social environments in different places affect people’s health or ill-health. You will look at health problems and their socio-economic causes at a global, national and sub-national level, examining both communicable diseas (e.g. HIV, covid-19) and non-communicable diseases (e.g. diabetes, stroke), and using case studies from both the Global South and Global North. You will develop knowledge about how ill-health and health inequalities are linked to socio-economic inequalities, poverty and marginalisation. You will be able to apply this knowledge to questions of health policy and interventions designed to improve health. A key conceptual framework for this module is the social determinants of health (SDH). This includes analysis of the risk environment for ill-health, influenced by deeper social structures (such as gender or class inequalities, or poor governance) in a particular setting, how people make a living (their livelihoods), and the nature of health policy and the health services available to people. We are therefore also interested in the interventions which can help deal with risk environments, to make people less susceptible to disease and less vulnerable when they become ill. You will learn how some places have achieved good health. The module is inter-disciplinary, drawing on theories and evidence from disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, public health and development studies, and to a lesser extent economics, demography and epidemiology. It also provides an understanding of the ways different cultures and societies define and understand health and ill-health and why some diseases are highly stigmatised. Case studies from different places and of different diseases are used to illustrate the social determinants of health, including infectious diseases (such as HIV, malaria, Ebola) and non-communicable diseases.
EDUCATION AND GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
Code:
DEV-5009A
Credits:
20
The module is about the distinctive challenges that face low and middle income countries in providing quality education for all. We also consider sources of inequalities in the education systems of the Global North, aiming for a worldwide awareness of the issues affecting equity in education.
GENDER AND POWER
Code:
PPLM5002A
Credits:
20
Providing a conceptual overview of feminist research approaches, this module examines contemporary gender and power relations. You will examine both the formal and informal power structures that shape the experience of gender. Bringing together the fields of media and sociology, politics and cultural studies, you will explore the relationship between feminist theory and activism.
OPTIONAL C MODULES (Min Credits: 40, Max Credits: 60)
SOUTH ASIAN DEVELOPMENT
Code:
DEV-5007B
Credits:
20
This module begins with an overview of the region's history before analysing recent and contemporary social, political and economic development processes. Topics include economic growth, social difference, democracy, land and food security, the environment, health and education. The module draws heavily on India, but also considers Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in relation to the various topics.
URBAN FUTURES
Code:
ENV-6034B
Credits:
20
If you are interested in addressing urban challenges and devising solutions for how we might improve the conditions for life in the 21st century this module provides a space for you to develop your ideas of what a more socially and environmentally just future might look like. Urban Futures introduces you to cutting edge theory and methods that question how cities globally are addressing current environmental, social and health challenges through architectural and infrastructural design. The module’s analytical focus on architecture, infrastructure and urban design enables you to unpack and unravel the politics of their operation and their role in addressing future urban challenges. You will select a building, infrastructure or design to use as your individual case study throughout the module. You will gather materials through onsite and online fieldwork to build up a portfolio of works that will be used for your formative and summative assessments.
ACTIVIST CAMPAIGNING
Code:
PPLM6079B
Credits:
20
How do grassroots and third sector organisations campaign for social and political change? Rather than pose this as an abstract question, you will partner with existing organisations to conduct campaigns on specific issues such as climate change, tax avoidance or gender inequality. You will receive a brief from a partner organisation and be supported in planning, devising, and carrying out activities that will achieve the aims of the brief. Taught content will include strategies for both online and offline activism, analysing power relations at different scales, and ways of assessing the effectiveness of your campaigns, but the bulk of this module will be the experience of a “live” campaign. You will combine applied research skills with professional practice in the form of a “reverse internship.” As the partner organisations are embedded in the module, you will build valuable skills for employability as well as an opportunity for being supported in the exercise of engaged citizenship. You will be assessed by presentation and critical reflection. In the year 2017-2018 the partner organisation was Greenpeace, but partners may change each year.
JUST TRANSFORMATIONS TO SUSTAINABILITY
Code:
DEV-6002B
Credits:
20
This module is about sustainability as an environmental justice concern. It approaches sustainability from a political ecology perspective, paying attention to the transformative politics involved in building a safer and more just planet. It looks at just transformations for sustainability from different sides/topics (e.g. conservation, food sovereignty, water, urban and rural areas, indigenous territories) but also in terms of concepts and processes, e.g. planetary boundaries, global (and cognitive) justice, transitions, transformations, alternatives, resistance movements, equity, etc. The course is taught using student experiences and observations. A typical session therefore might involve asking questions around planetary boundaries and asking how students are living within these boundaries. This would involve some theory but also on-line research and group work and dynamics.
CULTURE, SOCIETY AND DEVELOPMENT
Code:
DEV-6003B
Credits:
20
The aim of this module is to offer students an advanced module that builds on their previous engagement with development issues. The module is discourse-based and relies on small-group discussion, rather than lectures. In the module, we consider some of the enduring puzzles of social change to, (i) deliver in-depth understanding of a range of contemporary issues, (ii) support discourse and debate, and (iii) develop skills in thematic analysis. The format of intensive small group discussion facilitates a more nuanced understanding of social change helping students more effectively contribute to development theory and practice.
POLITICAL VIOLENCE & CONFLICT: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Code:
PPLM5002B
Credits:
20
Political violence, individual or collective, is easily condemned as an irrational and barbaric phenomenon, with little relevance for understanding political developments and social change. A lot is down to LeBon’s famous nineteenth century accounts of the crowd as ‘a primitive being’ so destructive ‘that the interests of the individual, even the interest of self preservation, will not dominate them’ (LeBon, 1995). The taboo of violence persists despite attempts of social and political theorists to engage with the issue and understand different forms and contexts, from riots, to religious violence and terrorism. The aim of the module is to break this generalized taboo by tracing the role (explicit or implicit) of political violence in political theory and its function in processes of socio-political transformations and change. Critical engagement with contemporary theoretical and empirical debates around the issue and the examination of mass and new media representations of political violence will enable students to develop a sophisticated understanding of the origins, logics, perceptions and outcomes of political violence and conflict.
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Code:
DEV-6001B
Credits:
20
This module is about social movements. It is organised around five key themes, which are also the five main axes of inequality globally. They are: gender/patriarchy, racism, labour/class, climate change and social reproduction. There are two weeks on each theme. The first addresses the forms of inequality relating to each theme and also the structural constraints that impede change. The second week focuses on forms of action taken by social movements, and asks the key questions: under what conditions do things change, which strategies work where, and how can increases in equality be sustained?
