MA in Politics, Development and the Global South

This module considers some of the most important topics in contemporary development studies, including: 

• Is development another name for “modernity”? 
• What are the differing (and sometimes opposing) definitions of development? 
• Development and the politics of knowledge 
• The developmental state 
• Development and global civil society: NGOs, celebrities and the power of philanthropy 
• Sustainability and democracy 
• Entrepreneurs from below 
• Ecological concerns 
• Gender questions 
• Post development and de-growth 

The core aim of this course is to provide an understanding of the processes, actors and ideas that are shaping radical politics in the so-called Global South. We will trace the murky contours that separate politics from lawlessness, political ideas and ideals from empty rhetorical gestures, international cooperation from imperialism, and political activism from violence. It is designed to encourage you to think critically and creatively about the study of politics and political ideas, and to provide the intellectual foundations that enable you to develop your own research agenda. 

You will complete a 10,000 word dissertation

This module aims to raise questions about whether the concepts and categories through which we usually study the ’international' or ’global' are adequate to the task. It critically examines categories of the social sciences and humanities that are usually simply presupposed and ’applied', and which, despite their Western or European origins, are assumed to be ’universal'. It does this by closely examining some of the most important theoretical writings of the post-WWII period, focusing upon books and debates which had repercussions far beyond their immediate disciplinary boundaries, including books by Kuhn, MacIntyre, Foucault, Said, and others.

Students explore the claim(s) that far from being objective and universal, our knowledge is shaped by culture, history and politics. In seminars we ask, can different ’conceptual schemes', ’paradigms' or ’traditions' be compared to see which one is better, or are they incommensurable? Do theories and explanations triumph over rival theories because they are ’better'- or for other reasons? Does knowledge serve to unmask power, or is it always caught up with and complicit with power?

This module requires students not simply to advance their knowledge of politics, but to explore the politics of knowledge, and to do so, in particular, by enquiring into whether the categories and concepts of the social sciences are genuinely  international and universal, or merely modern/Western and parochial.

This module focuses on how societies emerging from different types of conflict (such as war, genocide, ethnic violence and grave human rights abuses) engage in the process of coming to terms with their past. It examines official mechanisms of ‘transitional justice’ such as trials and truth commissions, as well as cultural forms of remembrance and local community practices.

By exploring the complex relationship between conflict, memory and justice in various cross-cultural settings, it seeks to provide an understanding of the ways in which such processes can promote or hinder reconciliation and the rebuilding of social and inter-communal ties.

The module will also assess the role of external factors (particularly through the creation of international war crimes tribunals) in terms of how they have affected such internal processes of facing the past. Various case studies, including Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Africa, and Rwanda will inform the theoretical discussions and provide a comparative perspective. 

This subject is built around glimpses of, and insights into, the lives of ordinary Chinese people and the rules and rituals that govern their existence. You will discuss the ways everyday life was governed under socialism and the ways that control is now breaking down with the emergence of a consumer culture, enabling a close scrutiny of the politics of everyday life. Picking up on themes as diverse and quirky as Mao badge fetishists, hoodlum slang, and the role of the tattoo, the subject examines the way a range of people not only live but resist dominant social discourse.

We will employ an array of critical thinking from Western social theorists and it is this that is highlighted through themes such as ‘commodities and collection’, ‘authorship and biography’, questions of power, violence and excess  as well as themes of fore-thrownment, sacrifice and desire. You will gain a grounding not only in the politics of everyday life in China but also in Western theoretical engagements with the everyday.  

This module will give you an insight into different values systems and political forms and in taking up the issue of politics in a culturally different way gaining an understanding of the heuristic value of certain schools of social, cultural and political theory

From western antiquity until modern times, the body in the west has been aestheticised, vilified, eroticised and pathologised. It is in and through the body that both self and society have been fashioned and disciplined.

It is at the heart of the emergence of sexuality as a modern discourse, and a constituent feature of the politics of identity, formed around race, gender and sex. For all the different debates the body has generated, they have always been framed within the mind/body, and nature/culture distinctions, which have been at the core of western thinking since the eighteenth century. 

This MA module will explore some of the theoretical and empirical debates concerning historical and contemporary identity politics around the world. The module will begin by addressing the ways in which oppressed groups have sought to engage in collective resistance and will include analysis of the civil rights movement, the women’s movement and LGBT activism.

We will situate our exploration of identity politics within specific socio-economic frameworks and pay particular attention to the challenges of collective activism under neoliberalism, alongside analysing the ‘dangers’ of recuperative politics. We will consider the ‘attacks’ on identity politics from the left and the right; reflecting upon the ways in which identity politics can be interpreted as anathema to radical materialist politics whilst also being problematic for narratives of liberal individualism.

The module will consider how complex matrices of power leads to an intersectional analysis and the possibilities and challenges that lie therein for identity movements. The module will draw upon theoretical frameworks to analyse identity politics including: feminist, critical race and queer theories. In addition, we will also focus on high profile illustrative examples to explore collective action including: the Black Panthers and Black Lives Matter; Gay Liberation Front and Queercore; Greenham women’s peace camp and Femen.  

While taking this module, you'll concentrate on planned change in the 20th century with special emphasis on the post World War II era, after the rise of the so-called Development Industry. We will cover the history of development and aid through various approaches to development, and will explore the discourses which have informed approaches to policy. Following this you will look at implementation and the history of anthropological involvement, including anthropological critiques. Finally, there will be an in-depth analysis of the development implications (both in terms of international agency or national government policy implications as well as projects on the ground) of selected global trends. Possible selected trends might be HIV/AIDs or Structural Adjustment Policies.

The module offers a strong conceptual basis for understanding theories of race and racialisation historically and with regard to contemporary cultural contexts and political debates. Critical attention is focused on an examination of the theories and concepts that sociologists and cultural studies theorists have used to think about the formation of ethnic and racial identities in relation to social justice, specifically the social ideals of equality, valuing diversity, and the right to live in dignity. The module explores the challenges of reconciling the analytical rigour of race critical theories and practical aims of oppositional political agendas within the contemporary conjuncture of racism and multiculturalism.

This MA level module explores the contemporary politics of human rights. Drawing on political philosophy, legal theory and international relations approaches, the module will examine the complex issues raised by human rights, and some of the difficulties and challenges in applying human rights in the contemporary world – the violence and human rights violations committed by state and non-state actors, wars and conflicts around the world, and the current global refugee crisis. It will also explore some of the important critiques of human rights from Marxist and postcolonial perspectives.

Students will be introduced to the major theoretical frameworks for understanding state compliance with human rights obligations using both historical and comparative approaches to the topic. We will focus on particular case examples and general cross-national comparisons in the effort to understand why states commit violations.

The module will explore the influence of political and economic conditions such as regime type, conflict, economic development in the protection or violation of human rights, the impact of human agency and decisions and the role of states, international legal instruments and NGOs in the promotion of human rights. Finally, it will examine questions of intervention, the development of accountability mechanisms and the management of the blame for human rights violations. 

Content

This module explores the history and historiography of violence, focusing especially, but not exclusively, on Europe between the medieval period and the present day.

It has two principal themes. First, it examines the recent, important debate on whether and why violence has declined in the past half millennium. Domestic violence and crime, terrorism, war and genocide will all be discussed. The role of religion and secular ideologies, concepts such as honour, and the growth of state power will be among the issues covered.

Second, the module investigates the methodologies that scholars have used to explain the causes of violence, the different forms in which it has been practised and its incidence in history. Students will study cultural histories of violence and will explore how disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, and more recently behavioural sciences such as psychology and neuroscience, have contributed to understanding of human violence in history.

Learning Outcomes

You will be able to:

• Acquire an understanding of recent multidisciplinary debates on violence; its causes, forms and trajectory in history
• Gain an appreciation of how historians can draw insights from and fruitfully collaborate with other disciplines, as well the problems and pitfalls of interdisciplinary methodology
• Engage critically with historiography and develop skills of primary source analysis
• Develop capacity for independent thought
• Cultivate written and spoken argumentation skills

Introductory Reading 

• Carroll, Stuart, ed., Cultures of Violence: Interpersonal Violence in Historical Perspective (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
• Ferguson, Niall, War of the World. History’s Age of Hatred (London: Allen Lane, 2006)
• Kiernan, Ben, Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur (New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 2007)
• Miller, William Ian, Humiliation and Other Essays on Honour, Social Discomfort and Violence (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995)
• Pinker, Steven, The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and its Causes (London: Allen Lane, 2011)
• Spierenburg, Pieter, A History of Murder: Personal Violence in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present (Cambridge: Polity P., 2008)

Module convenor

Dr Alexander Watson

Content

This module examines the development of Islam and Christianity on the African continent. It focuses on how Africans received and transformed Islamic and Christian rituals and ideologies; the impact of colonial rule on African belief systems; the relationship between religious change and modernity in post-colonial Africa; and the history of conflict and coexistence between Islam and Christianity in African communities. We will explore Africans' experience of religion through examining issues of identity and social organisation, with a particular emphasis on the role of gender and race in these processes. We will examine missionary attempts to re-organise African households, women's participation in Christian mother's groups and burial societies, the experience of conversion, the recent explosion of Pentecostal Christianity, the effect of HIV/AIDS on cultures of death and dying, and the impact of international events on the spread of Islam in Africa. This module combines scholarship in history, religious studies and anthropology, and will use a variety of textual, visual and oral primary sources, including: missionary journals, photographs, youtube vidos and interview transcripts. There is no foreign language requirement for this module.

Learning Outcomes

You will be able to:

• understand the history of the development of Islam and Christianity in modern Africa
• identify key ways in which Africans themselves constructed and adapted belief systems
• consider ways in which the experience of colonialism affected African ritual and organisational life
• understand key themes in the history of the relationship between Islam and Christianity on the African context
• consider ways in which gender and race mediated Africans’ spiritual beliefs and practices
• evaluate competing historical interpretations of religion in Africa
• apply an historical understanding to analysis of present-day religious conflict in Africa
• evaluate a range of primary sources on the history of religion in Africa

 Introductory reading

• A. Hastings, The Church in Africa 1450-1950 (Oxford, 1995)
• N. Levtzion and R.L. Pouwels (eds), The History of Islam in Africa (Ohio, 2000)
• J. Blakeley et al (eds), Religion in Africa (Portsmouth, 1994)
• J. Iliffe, Africans: The History of a Continent (Cambridge, 1995)

While history of medicine is usually taught focusing primarily on either ‘western’ or ‘eastern’ traditions, this module will focus on transmissions of knowledge along the Silk Roads. More than just routes on which missionaries, travellers and merchants moved between east and west Asia, the Silk Roads has become a metaphor of east-west connections.

This module will deal with Asian medical traditions as they are represented in manuscripts found in sites along the Silk-Roads, primarily the Dunhuang caves and Turfan. The discussion of these medical traditions will be contextualised within the multi-cultural aspects of the Silk-Roads and within processes of transmission of knowledge along the Silk Roads.

The module will also deal with the historical background leading to the discovery of the Silk Road sites and with how the internet is transforming research of the Silk Road. The primary sources used in this course will mostly consist of manuscripts found in Dunhuang (in translation from Chinese, Tibetan, Khotanese and Uighur) as well as visual material and artefacts from the Silk Roads. The texts and artefacts mostly date from the later centuries of the first millennium.

From Ferguson to Gaza, from the local to the global, this module proposes that we are faced with the necessity to revisit the canonical texts of postcolonial theory in order to make sense of our contemporary world. The aim of the module is to introduce you to a selection of these founding texts, and to consider the manner in which the spectre of colonialism persists in our present, both in our material reality and as a ‘spectropoetics’ that haunts the unconscious.

In this sense, you will read classic postcolonial texts of the twentieth century together with contemporary academic, activist and artistic interventions and countersignatures. Close, first-hand reading of texts is emphasised and you are required to probe the whole spectrum of postcolonial thinking—from literary theory, politics, psychoanalysis, diaspora studies, race and gender studies to philosophy, art, anthropology and history—and as such interrogate the production and circulation of knowledge from diverse positionalities. We seek to problematize the very notion of post-coloniality, understood not as a temporal marker but more as a style of thought—as a problem, a question and an option, an ‘epistemic and political project’.

We begin the module from the present, with a questioning of the links and divergences between postcolonial theory and current decolonial thinking (in particular where this concerns struggles across today’s global south), in order to invest our readings of canonical postcolonial texts with a sense of urgency and to set out a disciplinary framework.

Weekly topics are organised conceptually and across geographical and temporal boundaries through the themes such as the following, each of which re-inflects the next: objectivity; recognition; representation; ecology; relation; translation; ambivalence, appropriation; repair and reconciliation.

Much of the most significant and powerful contemporary fiction in English is written by those who come, or whose families have come, from outside the metropolitan and erstwhile imperial centre. This fiction is often called ‘postcolonial’, though there are those who would debate that term, as many do all aspects of the body of theory about the relation of the West and the rest of the world that has come to be known as ‘postcolonial theory’. Some would prefer the term ‘world’ or ‘transnational’ literature, for reasons we will discuss. This option divides its attention between the analysis of postcolonial fiction and postcolonial theory. Theorists to be studied will include Fanon, Said, Spivak, Ahmad and McClintock, along with a variety of writers such as Lessing, Achebe, Rhys, Rushdie and Coetzee.

‘Palestine’ has become one of the most potent cultural/political signifiers of our time. This module aims to unpack some of its complex histories and meanings, with a view to understanding why it plays such a central role in contemporary debates about ‘Islamic radicalism’, neo-colonialism/globalisation, the decline of the West, human rights and ‘terrorism’. In doing so, it seeks to remedy a signal oversight in mainstream postcolonial studies, which has historically evaded any serious engagement with ‘Palestine’. These issues will be approached in a multi-disciplinary fashion, drawing on literary and cultural studies, politics, religious studies, trauma studies, film studies, history and ethnography. Particular attention will be paid to how cultural representation mediates relationships of power and ideology; and the role and effects of different styles, genres and modes of representation (fiction, memoir, graphic novel, film, poetry etc) in such mediations.

Please note: this is an experimental module and some of the texts will be less readily available than on comparable options. Students must be prepared to use internet sites like Amazon and AbeBooks to source out-of-print material, although every effort will be made to provide some stocks of each text in the library.

This examines how ‘ethnicities’ and ‘nations’ are constructed within the media. Our aim is to analyse how the media construct ‘ethnicity’ and ‘nations’ over time; to reflect on the role of the media in shaping nations and ethnicities; and to explore the ways in which formations of ethnicity and nationhood affect practices. The module introduces key concepts in Black Cultural Studies and Postcolonial Studies, including: colonial discourse, colonial fantasy, othering, hybridity and diaspora. We look at the intersection between race, ethnicity and other social relations, including gender, sexuality and class.

Taking its cue from Fredric Jameson’s concept of ‘cognitive mapping’, this module explores contemporary efforts to provide social and political ‘cartographies’ of capitalist society, with particular attention to the intersection between social theory and narrative aesthetic forms (both literary and visual). Beginning from Jameson’s inquiry into the possibility of visual and theoretical orientation within capitalism as a complex totality, and his understanding of ‘conspiracy theory’ as the failure of such an endeavour, the module will investigate different approaches to ‘mapping capitalism’: Franco Moretti’s use of maps in the study of the social content of the nineteenth-century novel; the analysis of commodity-chains and containerization, as explored in the photographic work of Allan Sekula; the attempt in recent cinema and television to track the conflicts in capitalist economies; the thematisation of landscape as a site of power relations and social transformations; the network as a sociological tool, a political reality, and an aesthetic object. Throughout, we will try to think of how a 'cartographic turn' in contemporary theory, art and political activism challenges our presuppositions about the relationship between social inquiry and aesthetics.

Module convenor: Alberto Toscano

There is nothing new to the concept that space is infused and structured according to dominant forms of power in society - be they nationalism, neo-liberalism, the state, or patriarchy - and that such articulations have corresponding representational forms in maps, charts, surveys, and censuses.

Far from being the neutral scientific endeavour it is often claimed to be, cartography has always tended to reinforce and replicate dominant spatial logics, erasing indigenous claims to land, ostracising minorities from the political landscape, and setting racial, gender and class hierarchies (quite literally) in stone, brick and asphalt. Increasingly, however, we are seeing a growing number of both artists and social movements coming to an awareness that our representations of space carry with them an intendant politics. Intent on redressing this imbalance, counter-mapping is the still somewhat speculative practice of harnessing dominant representational strategies in an effort to invert, subvert, and make clear what has been erased in an effort to seek political change.

From feminist re-mappings of the city according to safe and dangerous places, to indigenous narratives of ancestral wanderings; from students co-opting google maps to avoid police tactics of ‘kettling’, to artist Janet Cardiff’s memory walks; from local anarchist groups revealing locations of CCTV cameras in Camberwell Green, to W.G. Sebald’s literary re-mapping of East Anglia; this module not only studies emerging forms of counter-mapping, but encourages students to engage in their own practice of re-mapping, re-walking, and re-appropriating the cityscape.