81711 - Geography of Development (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will have acquired specific knowledge on the theoretical and territorial aspects of development and on the connections between poverty, politics and the environment. Starting from the poverty reduction strategies promoted by international organizations, the course will propose an analysis of the tools implemented at different scales, with particular attention to the local one. The theme of the relationship between humanity and the use of natural resources will also be central, which on the one hand will take into consideration the implications for health, food security and equity in access to resources by the world population, and on the other  will focus on changes in climatic conditions and their impact on the life of the planet and the human groups that populate it.

Course contents

The course deals with the theory and practice of development aid from a geographical point of view. A successful completion of the course will allow students to know the various theories of development, its models and main concepts as well as an application of this knowledge onto a series of interest areas that are central to the current development aid architecture. The course involves a dynamic and reflective approach to teaching, which includes joint readings, written texts and class presentations.

Contents
The course will address the following topics:

Theories, models, and concepts of mainstream, alternative, and post-development development

Central themes of development: development and security, development and the state, development and humanitarianism

Territorial analysis of development on the environment, society and the economy

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

(all bold titles are in Italian)

Italian monographs:

Bignanti, E. et al. (2014) Geografie dello sviluppo. Una prospettiva critica e globale, Torino: UTET

Scarpocchi, C. et al. (2008) Geografia e cooperazione allo sviluppo. Temi e prospettive per un approccio territoriale, Milano: FrancoAngeli

Hodder. R. (2001) Geografia dello sviluppo, DeAgostini

Introduction

Compulsory texts

Hodder. R. (2001) Geografia dello sviluppo, DeAgostini (capitoli 1)

Bignanti, E. et al. (2014) Geografie dello sviluppo. Una prospettiva critica e globale, Torino: UTET (capitolo 1)

Supplementary texts

Hart, G. (2010) D/Developments after the Meltdown, in: Antipode, 41/1: 117-141

Lawson, V. (2007) Making Development Geography, London: Routledge (chapter one).

Massey, D. (2002) Globalisation: What does it mean for geography? Geography Vol. 87, No. 4 (October), pp. 293-296

Power, M. (2019) Geopolitics and Development, London: Routledge (chapter 1).

Potter, R. et al. (2017) Geographies of Development : An Introduction to Development Studies, London: Routledge (chapter 2)

I: Teories and Concepts

I: 1: Liberalism

Compulsory texts

Bignanti, E. et al. (2014) Geografie dello sviluppo. Una prospettiva critica e globale, Torino: UTET(capitolo 3)

Malighetti, R. (2005) Oltre lo sviluppo. Le prospettive dell'antropologia, Milano: Melthemi (capitolo 3)

Supplementary texts

Crewe , E. and Harrison, E. (1998) Whose Development? An Ethnography of Aid, New York: Bloomsbury (chapter one)

Escobar, A. (2011, 2nd ed.) Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Princeton: Princeton University Press (preface and chapter one).

Ferguson, J. (1994) The Anti-Politics Machine: Development, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho, Baltimore: University of Minnesota Press (chapter 9).

Li, T.M. (2007) The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics, Durham, N.C: Duke University Press (introduction).

Case studies

Dickie, J. (1999) Darkest Italy: The Nation and Stereotypes of the Mezzogiorno, 1860–1900, Palgrave McMillan.

Mbembe, A. (2019) Critica della ragione negra, Como: Ibis

Mudimbe, V. Y. (1988) The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, And The Order Of Knowledge, Minneapolis: Indiana University Press.

Mignolo , W. (2013) L'idea di America Latina. Geostoria di una teoria decoloniale, Milano: Mimesis

I:2: Uneven Development 

Compulsory texts

Wallerstein, I. (1981) Spazio economico, in Enciclopedia Einaudi, vol. XIII, Torino (online)

Tsing, A.L. (2019) Della non-scalabilità, in: Cuppini, N., Peano, I., eds., Un mondo logistico. Sguardi critici su lavoro, migrazioni, politica e globalizzazione, Ledizioni.

Supplementary texts

Bair J, Werner M, (2011) Commodity chains and the uneven geographies of global capitalism: a disarticulations perspective, in: Environment and Planning A 43: 988–997

Frank, A.G. (1989) The Development of Underdevelopment: A Reprint , Monthly Review: Vol. 41, No. 2: June.

Smith, N. (2008) Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space, University of Georgia press.

Swyngedouw, E. 1997: Neither Global nor Local – ‘Glocalization’ and the Politics of Scale, in: Cox; K., Spaces of Globalization. Reasserting the Power of the Local, New York, The Guilford Press

Werner, M. (2015) Global Displacements: The Making of Uneven Development in the Caribbean, Wiley-Blackwell.

I:3: Neoliberalism

Compulsory texts

Harvey, D. (2007) Breve storia del neoliberismo, Milano: Il saggiatore.

Ippolito, I., Perrotta, D., Raeymaekers, T. (2020) Braccia rubate dall'agricoltura. Pratiche di sfruttamento del lavoro migrante, Torino: SEB27 (intro e capitolo 1: un nuovo regime agroalimentare)

Supplementary texts

Peck J (2013) Explaining (with) neoliberalism. Territory, Politics, Governance 1(2):132–157.

Peck J and Tickell A (2002) Neoliberalizing space. Antipode 34(3):380–404

Wacquant L (2012) Three steps to a historical anthropology of actually existing neoliberalism. Social Anthropology 20(1):66–79

I:4: Sustainable Development 

Compulsory texts

Sen, A. (2020) Lo sviluppo e’ liberta’, Milano: Mondadori (capitolo 1-2)

Collinson, S. (2003) Power, livelihoods and conflict: case studies in political economy analysis for humanitarian action, Brighton: ODI (capitolo 1)

Supplementary texts

Nussbaum, M.C. (2012) Creare capacità. Liberarsi dalla dittatura del Pil, Bologna: Il Mulino

Nussbaum, M.C., Sen, A. (1993) The quality of life: Oxford Univesity Press.

Vlassenroot, K. and Raeymaekers, T., eds. (2004) Conflict and Social Transformation in Eastern DR Congo, Gent, Academia Press (disponibile in inglese e francese)

I:5: Post-Development

Compulsory texts

Olivier de Sardan: antropologia e sviluppo: saggio sul cambiamento sociale: Raffaello Cortina Editore (capitolo 1-2)

Escobar, A. (2011, 2nd ed.) Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Princeton: Princeton University Press (preface and chapter one).

Supplementary texts

De Sousa-Santos, B. (2007) Beyond abyssal thinking: From global lines to ecologies of knowledges, Eurozine (http://www.eurozine.com/beyond-abyssal-thinking/)

Gibson-Graham, J.K. (2014) Rethinking the Economy with Thick Description and Weak Theory, Current Anthropology, 55/9: 147-153

Kothari, A. et al. (2019) Pluriverso: dizionario del post-sviluppo, Napoli-Salerno: Orthotes (introduzione)

Meagher, K., De Herdt, T. and Titeca, K. (2014) Unravelling public authority: paths of hybrid governance in Africa, IS Academy research brief.

Radcliffe, S.A. And Radhuber, I.M (2020) The political geographies of D/decolonization: Variegation and decolonial challenges of /in geography, Political Geography 78 (2020): 102-128

I:6: De-Growth

Compulsory texts

Latouche (2021), Breve storia della decrescita. Origine, obiettivi, malintesi e future, Torino: Bollati Bolingheri (introduzione)

Supplementary texts

Ilich, I. (1974) La convivialità, Milano: Mondadari.

Graeber, D. (2006) Frammenti di antropologia anarchica, Elèuthera.

Pallante, M. (2011) La decrescita felice: la qualità della vita non dipende dal PIL, Edizioni per la decrescita felice.

Sahlins, M. (2010) Un grosso sbaglio. L'idea occidentale di natura umana, Elèuthera.

II: Themes

II: 1:Development and Security

II: 1:1: the geography of warfare 

Compulsory texts

Kaldor, M. (2001) Le nuove guerre: la violenza organizzata nell'età globale, Carocci (intro e conclusione)

Duffield, M. (2013) Guerre postmoderne. L'aiuto umanitario come tecnica politica di controllo, Bologna: Il ponte editrice (introduzione).

Supplementary texts

Foradori, P., Giacomello, G. eds. (2014), Sicurezza globale: Le nuove minacce, Bologna: Il Mulino

(capitolo 6)

Gregory (2011) The everywhere war, in: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 177, No. 3, September, pp.

238–250.

Kalyvas, S. (2001) “New” and “Old” Civil Wars: A Valid Distinction? In: World Politics 54 (October),

pp. 99–118.

Kaplan, R.D. (1994) The Coming Anarchy. How Scarcity, Crime, Overpopulation, Tribalism, and

Disease are Rapidly Destroying the Social Fabric of our Planet, The Atlantic Monthly, February (online).

Koopman, S. (2011) Alter-geopolitics: Other securities are happening, in: Geoforum, 42, pp. 274284.

Korf, Benedikt , Engeler, Michelle and Hagmann, Tobias (2010) The Geography of Warscape, in: Third World Quarterly, 31: 3, 385-399.

Loughlin John O’, and Raleigh, C.A. (2008) Spatial analysis of civil war violence, in K. Cox, M. Low and J. Robinson (eds) A Handbook of Political Geography, Thousand Oaks CA: Sage, pp. 493-508

Schlichte, K. (2009) In the shadow of violence, Frankfurt, Campus Verlag.

II: 1:2: war economies

Compulsory texts

Foradori, P., Giacomello, G. eds. (2014), Sicurezza globale: Le nuove

minacce, Bologna: Il Mulino (capitolo 3 e 10)

Supplementary texts

Collier, P. and Hoeffler, A. (1998) On economic causes of civil war. Oxford Economic Papers, n° 50, pp. 563-573.

Le Billon, P., The Political Ecology of War: Natural Resources and Armed Conflicts, in: Political Geography, 20 (2001), pp. 561-584

Jourdan, L. (2010) Generazione Kalashnikov: Un antropologo dentro la guerra in Congo, Bari: Laterza (capitolo 1.7).

Korf, B. (2006) Cargo cult science, armchair empiricism and the idea of violent conflict. Third World Quarterly, Vol. 27, n° 3, pp. 459-476.

Marchal, R. et Messiant, C. (2002) De l’avidité des rebelles. L’analyse économique de la guerre civile selon Paul Collier. Critique Internationale, n° 16 (juillet), pp. 58-69.

Vlassenroot, K. and Raeymaekers, T., Conflitto a transizione in Congo, Afriche e Orienti (dossier), 1-2/2004.

II:1:4: navigation warscapes

Compulsory texts

Foradori, P., Giacomello, G. eds. (2014), Sicurezza globale: Le nuove minacce, Bologna: Il Mulino (capitolo 8)

Levi, P. (2014) I sommersi e i salvati, Milano: Enaudi (capitolo: la zona grigia).

Supplementary texts

Jourdan, L. (2010) Generazione Kalashnikov: Un antropologo dentro la guerra in Congo, Bari: Laterza (IV.1 e conclusioni)

Korf, Benedikt , Engeler, Michelle and Hagmann, Tobias (2010) The Geography of Warscape, in: Third World Quarterly, 31: 3, 385-399.

Koopman, S. (2011) Alter-geopolitics: Other securities are happening, in: Geoforum, 42, pp. 274-284.

Lubkemann, S. (2008) Culture in chaos: an anthropology of the social condition in war, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Nordstrom C. (1998) Terror warfare and the medicine of peace, in: Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 12/3, pp. 103-121.

Raeymaekers, T. (2013) The social geography of violent conflict, in: Bruck, T., Justino, P. and Verwimp, P., eds., Micro-Level Perspective on the Dynamics of Conflict, Violence and Development, Oxford and Malden, Oxford University Press.

Vigh, H. (2008) Crisis and Chronicity: Anthropological Perspectives on Continuous Conflict and Decline, in: Ethnos, 73/1 (March), pp. 5-24.

Vigh, H. (2009) Motion Squared. A Second Look at the Concept of Social Navigation, in: Anthropological Theory, 9/4, pp. 419-438.

II:1:5: Security and Humanitarianism

Compuslory texts

Fassin, D. (2011) Ragione umanitaria. Una storia morale del presente, DeriveApprodi (intro e conclusione)

Heller, C. and Pezzani, L. (2016): Ebbing and flowing: the EU’s shifting practices of (non-) assistance and bordering in a time of crisis, in: Near Futures [Online]

Supplementary texts

De Genova, N. (2013) Spectacles of migrant 'illegality': the scene of exclusion, the obscene of inclusion, in: Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36/7, pp. 1180-98.

Jeandesboz, J. (2016): Smartening border security in the European Union: an associational inquiry, in: Security Dialogue 47 (4), pp. 292-309.

Kasparek, B. (2016): Complementing Schengen: the Dublin system and the European border and migration Regime, in: Bauder, H. & Matheis, C. (eds.) Migration policy and practice: Interventions and Solutions, Palgrave, pp. 59-78.

Ticktin, M. (2010) 'From redundancy to recognition: Transnational humanitarianism and the production of non-moderns', in E. Bornstein and P. Redfield, eds. Forces of Compassion: humanitarianism between ethics and politics, santa Fe: SAR Press.

Uele, T., Loher, D. and Wyss, A. (2017) Contested control at the margins of the state, in: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, advanced publishing (special issue)

II:2:Development and the State

II:2:1: ‘Collapsed States’

Compulsory texts

Foradori, P., Giacomello, G. eds. (2014), Sicurezza globale: Le nuove minacce, Bologna: Il Mulino (capitolo 1)

Supplementary texts

Boege, V., A. Brown, K. Clements and A. Nolan (2008) ‘On Hybrid Political Orders and Emerging States: State Formation in the Context of “Fragility”’. Berlin: Berghof Research Centre for Constructive Conflict Management.

Jessop, Bob, Brenner, Neil, and Martin Jones. 2008. ‘Theorizing Sociospatial Relations’. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 26 (3): 389– 401

Korf, Benedikt; Raeymaekers, Timothy; Schetter, Conrad; Watts, Michael J (2018). Geographies of limited statehood. In: Draude, Anke; Börzel, Tanja A; Risse, Thomas. The Oxford Handbook of Governance and Limited Statehood. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Leander, A. (2004) ‘War and the Un-Making of States: Taking Tilly Seriously inthe Contemporary

World’, in S. Guzzini and D. Jung (eds) Copenhagen Peace Research: Conceptual Innovation and

Contemporary Security Analysis, pp. 69–80. London: Routledge.

Menkhaus, K. (2003) State Collapse in Somalia: Second Thoughts, in: Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 30, No. 97, (Sep.,2003), pp. 405-422.

II:2:2:Migration and Development

Compulsory texts

Gazzotti, L. (2021) Immigration Nation: Aid, Control, and Border Politics in Morocco, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (introduction).

Supplementary texts

Maâ, A. 2021) Manufacturing collaboration in the deportation field: intermediation and the institutionalisation of the International Organisation for Migration’s ‘voluntary return’ programmes in Morocco, The Journal of North African Studies, 26:5, 932-953, DOI: 10.1080/13629387.2020.1800210 [https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2020.1800210]

Andrijasevic, Rutvica, and Walters, William, 2010, The International Organization for Migration and the International Government of Borders, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol. 28, No.6, pp. 977-999

Rodriguez, A.-L. (2019). European attempts to govern African youths by raising awareness of the risks of migration: Ethnography of an encounter. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(5), 735– 751. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1415136

II:2:3: Formality-Informality

Compulsory texts

De Soto, H. (2001) Il mistero del capitale. Perché il capitalismo ha trionfato in Occidente e ha fallito nel resto del mondo, Milano, Garzanti (introduzione).

Tulumello, S., Pozzi, G. (2019) Margini Globali. Dalla produzione della marginalizzazione agli spazi

di speranza. Un’intervista con Ananya Roy, in: Tracce Urbane, n. 5: 40-58.

Supplementary texts

Meagher, K. (2021) "Informality and the Infrastructures of Inclusion: An Introduction," Development and Change, 52(4): 729–755.

Mitchell, T. (2004) The properties of markets: informal housing and capitalism's mystery. Cultural

political economy Working paper, n° 2. Lancaster, Institute for Advanced Studies in Social and

Management Sciences, University of Lancaster.

Roy, Anyanya and Emma Crane. Territories of Poverty: Rethinking North and South. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2015.

Wacquant, Loic, Tom Slater, Virgilio Borges Pereira, “Territorial stigmatization in action”, Environment and Planning A, 46, 2014: 1270-1280.

Teaching methods

The teaching method foresees that the student is not a mere passive recipient but an active participant in the learning process. The course tries to stimulate personal reflection through the two written texts that function as compulsory assignments, the group presentation, and the exam, during which the student will be invited to propose a personal reading of the compulsory texts and examples aimed at explaining the theoretical aspects studied. Furthermore, the evaluation takes into account the student's communication skills, including an appropriate language and analytical demonstration of the acquired competences and skills.
Attending students are required to attend at least 75% of classes in presence.

Assessment methods

Assessment
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Study of the main texts (The texts in Italian are indicated in bold)

Presentation in class of a text or research work carried out in a group on a topic agreed with the teacher

Participation in the educational activities that will take place during the lessons (the slides will serve as a support but are not considered exam material)

Writing of two short essays (max. 1500 words) on two chosen topics that will be introduced during the course

NON ATTENDING STUDENTS
Non-attending students are required to study
1. all the compulsory texts listed in the course bibliography:
2. choice of one of the monographic texts listed below, based on the student's interest:
Duffield, M. (2013) Postmodern Wars. Humanitarian aid as a political control technique, Bologna: Il ponte editoria.
Fassin, D. (2018) Humanitarian Reason. A moral history of the present, Rome: DeriveApprodi.
Foradori, P., Giacomello, G. eds. (2014), Global security: The new threats, Bologna: Il Mulino
Olivier de Sardan, J-P. (2008) Anthropology and development: essay on social change: Raffaello Cortina Editore
Latouche (2021) Brief history of degrowth. Origin, objectives, misunderstandings and futures, Turin: Bollati Bolingheri.
It is possible to arrange other texts with the teacher.

evaluation methods:
ATTENDING STUDENTS
The course will be evaluated as follows:
Collective presentation: 30%
Two written texts: 50%
Exam: 20%

The exam involves an oral test. Enrollments are made on AlmaEsami.
The evaluation is aimed at verifying the understanding of the geographical, social and cultural phenomena described during the lessons, introduced both through the teacher's lectures and through the works carried out and presented directly by the students and discussed in class.
Structurally, each essay consists of the following parts: (1) an abstract detailing the research question and thesis statement (hypothetical answer), (2) a body of text in which you address the question point-by-point in a conceptual way (ie addressing the main concepts and briefly evoking one or more examples); (3) a conclusion that links the argument back to the initial question.
The presentation requires a collective elaboration on a chosen topic. Rather than reviewing readings, students are expected to come up with an original example and ask a few questions, which will later be discussed in class (moderated by the students). Students will be assessed on how well they master key concepts and apply them to a specific case, as well as originality and style. The group can present a short draft of the presentation in advance (including their learning objectives and references of the literature used) to the course tutor.

NON ATTENDING STUDENTS

 During the exam, the student will be invited to propose a personal reading of the compulsory texts and examples aimed at explaining the theoretical aspects studied. Furthermore, the evaluation takes into account the student's communication skills, including an appropriate language and analytical demonstration of the acquired competences and skills.

 

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations used during the frontal lessons will be made available among the teaching materials but are not considered exam material.

Office hours

See the website of Timothy Raeymaekers