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GS/POLS
6XXXX. 03 Social
Conflict and Social Transformation:
Approaches and Methods
Note:
This course is under development and will be subject to approval by
various committees. Please send your comments, questions, suggestions
without hesitation (click
here for the comment box)
The course examines selected approaches to conflict and
transformation, both classical and contemporary.
Its objective is to help students develop a critical
understanding of the underlying epistemologies and methods so as to
frame and implement their own research inquiry.
We begin with some key epistemological approaches and some of the
classical debates about transformation (e.g., colonialism and
resistance; reform and revolution;
interventionism versus endogenous change; universal ‘progress’
versus heterogeneity; the role of
‘crisis’; the role of ‘policy’ etc.). We then go on to
examine selected empirical accounts (such as in India and Bolivia; the
ecological movements; developmentalism and development policy, etc.).
with a view to analyse the epistemologies and methods they use. Students
will be asked to identify, inter
alia, different axes of social conflict (e.g., state/indigenous
communities; race; gender); sites of conflict and transformation (e.g.,
nation-states; the workplace; policy processes; knowledge production and
discourse); and agents of transformation (e.g., individuals; structural
groups; broad coalitions; social movements; liberation movements, etc.). Some
of the cases can also be suggested by students according to their
interests. Following such an
analysis, students will construct their own research question and
determine the methodology with which to approach their chosen question.
Evaluation
A.
Seminar
Participation ........................ 15%
B.
Critical review
(7 pp.).........................
35%
C.
Research
proposal or
Research paper
(20 pp.)................... 40%
D.
Peer review of
paper/proposal of
one other colleague……………………10%
A. Class participation is absolutely necessary if students are to fully
obtain the benefits of this course.
B. For the critical review paper, students will have to choose
readings from a week of class and provide an analysis according to
guidelines.
The main task will be to identify
the epistemological goals of the authors and the methods used;
whether these are appropriate for the transformation they are analysing;
identify clearly the site(s) of transformation in question (e.g.,
nation-state; workplace; knowledge production; policy processes etc.);
the agent(s) of
transformation (individuals; social movements; structural groups;
coalitions, etc.); and finally, drawing upon these components, to
provide a critical assessment of the analysis.
C. Depending on where the student is in the program, s/he will write a
research proposal or a research paper. In either case it will be
expected that the work will be connected to his/her dissertation.
Students who are in the process of writing their proposals or have
submitted one just prior to taking this course will gain the most from
it.
In the latter case, this assignment will be connected to the
literature review and conceptual chapters of the dissertation.
For MA students, this assignment could contribute substantially
to the MRP.
D. Each research proposal/paper will be reviewed by two peers, just as
for a peer-reviewed journal. Students will be assigned responsibility
for specific papers and given the standard instructions for review that
journals usually provide their reviewers.
Rationale
At
present, our graduate curriculum does not offer a course where the
students can use the knowledge they gain from the core and optional
courses to develop their inquiry.
There is only one course which is dedicated entirely to the
question of
epistemology and the actual practice of research, and the focus
of
that course is on feminist epistemologies (GS/POLS 6755). The
proposed course will fill a similar gap as GS/POLS 6755, in particular,
but not only, to students interested in the studying social conflict and
transformation. This is a critical missing link in our current
curriculum; it should help minimize the time gap between completion of
their requirements and submission of their proposals, and the resultant
delays in completion. Further, students would also stand to gain
substantially from the opportunity to construct their inquiry through a
collaborative process with their peers who are also engaged in the same
endeavour.
This is likely to render the research process less alienating and
more enjoyable, and will prepare them for the academic culture of peer
review.
In most departments, there are seminars/pro-seminars/thesis
groups which have some of the same goals. Such a general format is not
feasible for a program as large as ours.
The specific focus on conflict and transformation is chosen in
recognition of the interest of many of our students as well as faculty
members.
It can be taught by a number of faculty members and the content
can be reoriented according to varying strengths and interests.
Indicative
readings
I.
Major policy documents
(such as The Inequality Predicament; The Human Development
Reports and the World Development Reports)
II.
Alpers, Edward A. (et al eds.), 2005. Slavery
and resistance in Africa and Asia, London; New York : Routledge
Antonio, Robert J., 2003. Marx and
modernity : key readings and commentary, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Bond, P. (ed). 2005. Fanon's
warning : a civil society reader on the New Partnership for Africa's
Development, Trenton, N.J. : Africa World Press.
Bottomore, T. 1991. “Historical materialism”, in A
Dictionary of Marxist Thought”, pp.206-210. Also see
“Knowledge”, pp.254-262. Oxford, Blackwell.
Bernstein, H., 2005. “Development Studies and the Marxists”, in U.
Kothari (ed), A Radical History of Development Studies: Individuals, Institutions and
Ideologies.
London
: Zed Books, pp111-137.
Castells, M., 2000. End
of millennium, 2nd.
Edition, Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishers.
Castles, S.
2001. “Studying social transformations”, International Political
Science Review Vol 22, No. 1, 13–32
Chang, H. 2004. Reclaiming
Development: An Economic Policy Handbook for Activists and Policymakers,
London: Zed Books
Chen,
M.; Jhabvala, R.; Kanbur, R. Mirani, N.; Osner, Karl (Eds).,
"Reality and Analysis: personal and technical reflections on the
working lives of six women" (online)
Cooper, F. and R. Packard (eds), International Development and the Social Sciences. Essays on the
History and Politics of Knowledge. Berkeley: University of
California Press, pp 1-41
Coronil,
F. 1997. The Magical State:
Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela, University Of Chicago
Press.
Enloe,
Cynthia H., 2004. The curious feminist : searching for women in a new age of empire,
Berkeley
:
University
of
California Press
.
Fay,
B., 1996. Contemporary philosophy of social science: a multicultural approach.
Oxford, Blackwell.
Flyvbjerg,
B., 2001. Making social science matter: why social inquiry fails and how it can
succeed again. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Freire,
P. 1989. Learning to question : a
pedagogy of liberation, New
York : Continuum.
Hill-Collins, Patricia. 1990. Black Feminist Thought. Chapter 11, "Knowledge, Consciousness,
and the Politics of Empowerment", pp. 221-238.
Boston
: Unwin Hyman.
Ingram,
D. and J. Ingram, 1991. Critical
Theory: The Essential
Readings
, Paragon House Publishers. See:
-
Max
Horkheimer, “Traditional and Critical Theory"
-
Jürgen
Habermas, “Knowledge and Human Interests: A General
Perspective
-
Michel
Foucault, “The Subject and Power”
-
Nancy Fraser,
“What’s Critical About Critical Theory?
Isaac, T., 2002. Local Democracy
and Development: The Kerala People's Campaign for Decentralized Planning,
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Kennedy,
P., 1989. The Rise and Fall of the
Great Powers. Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000.
London
:
Fontana
Press.
Kabeer, N. 1995, Reversed
realities: gender hierarchies in development thought, Kali for
Women,
New Delhi
,
India
.
Kabeer, N.
1998, "Money can't buy me
love"? : re-evaluating gender, credit and empowerment in rural
Bangladesh
,
Institute
of
Development Studies
,
University
of
Sussex
,
Brighton
,
UK
.
U.
Kothari (ed), A Radical History of
Development Studies: Individuals, Institutions and Ideologies.
London: Zed Books
Looker, R., 1974. Selected
political writings of Rosa
Luxemburg, New York : Grove Press :
Distributed by Random House.
Mamdani, M. 2004. When Victims
Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda,
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Olivera, O.,
2004. ¡Cochabamba! Water War in
Bolivia, Cambridge: South End Press.
Peterson, V.S.
2003, A critical rewriting of
global political economy : integrating reproductive, productive, and
virtual economies, Routledge,
London
;
New York
.
Peet, R. (ed). 2004. Liberation
Ecologies, New York: Routledge.
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