Module Information

This course aims to introduce students to key political and social issues which condition the place of the Third World in politics. It will explore four key topics ¿ the colonial condition, racism, development, and democracy ¿ through a series of readings and exercises which will challenge accepted stereotypes and intellectual assumptions with the aim of encouraging students to think critically about their studies and their actions.

LECTURES (two per week):

Handouts will be provided at all lectures. They will be posted on Blackboard after the lecture is given. Students are encouraged to use the handouts as skeleton lecture notes, allowing them to concentrate on listening to the lecture and its argument.

Knowing the Third World
1. Who drew the maps? ¿ knowledge & names
2. Who knows best? ¿ an introduction to understanding power
Seminar exercise 1: real people in real places.

Colonialism
3. Colonialism ¿ what happened, where and its material consequences
4. Is colonialism over? ¿ global inequalities
Seminar exercise 2: exploitation and civilisation
5. Colonialism ¿ women¿s and men¿s experiences
6. Colonial ideas ¿ tourism and the Caribbean
Seminar exercise 3: the politics of gazing

Race
7. Slavery
8. Racism
Seminar exercise 4: continuities of slavery
9. Whiteness and acting white
10. Black and `third world¿ feminism
Seminar exercise 5: racism and the third world `population explosion¿

Development
11. The Idea of Development
12. The development `industry¿
Seminar exercise 6: Modern Missionaries? The international development NGO
13. Sustainability ¿ Development and the Environment
14. Do we need development?
Seminar exercise 7: Live aid, dead aid?


Democracy
15. Liberal Democracy & `Good Governance¿
16. Patronage politics
Seminar exercise 8: Desirable Democracies
17. Social movements
18. Indigenous challenge
Seminar exercise 9: People Power!

Study skills will be taught to students by active participation in seminars, backed by a web-based curriculum on the Departmental intranet (Intranet Skills Resource). Four main topics will be covered: sources (printed and web-based); seminars and small group work; essays; examinations. The skills teaching will be practical and geared to the tasks which students encounter during their studies, and as such they will be linked into the module's academic content and to student assessment. As such, seminar tutors will engage in skills teaching as and when appropriate to that particular group, rather than employing a rigid regime. Thus discussions about group work might take place early-on, discussion of sources might occur throughout the module while the topic of essay writing would take place closer to the deadline. The less structured approach to skills teaching will be backed up by the Intranet Skills Resource which will feature notes on various skills topics, a reading list plus links to other College resources (such as Information Services) and to pre-existing skills sites available on the web. It should be noted that the Department has tried many strategies to teach skills, but the results have been disappointing, and it is hoped that incorporating these into the student's daily academic routine will prove effective.

Students will have the opportunity to develop, practice and test a wide range of transferable skills which will help them to understand, conceptualise and evaluate examples and ideas. Throughout the course, students should practice and enhance their reading, comprehension and thinking skills, as well as basic numeracy skills and self management skills. In lectures students will develop listening and note taking skills, as well as analytical skills. In seminars students will enhance their analytical skills and will practice listening, explaining and debating skills, as well as team work and problem solving. Essay writing will encourage students to practice their independent research, writing and IT skills, and the examination will test these skills under time constraint conditions.