AP/SOSC 3411 6.00

Third World Feminism And The Polictics Of Development

This course aims to develop a deeper understanding of the complex and often misunderstood dynamics of gender and development within the rapidly changing context of international development. It explores feminist critiques and alternative theories of development to demonstrate how feminist analytical frameworks make an important contribution to the growing debate on the gendered construction of ‘development’. It also examines meanings of global development across the world - for people living in Toronto as well as in places such as Jamaica and Sri Lanka, especially for women.
In particular, the course explores the representation, voice and agency of ""Third World"" women in development work, and pays attention to the way in which women in the Global South, with an emphasis on the Caribbean and Central and South America, determine their own development and empowerment. The subject of how women and men in Canada and other “western” countries can also be a part of alternative development strategies and can help to build a twenty-first century global feminist movement, is also explored.

The course is designed around a set of topics that include colonialism, structural adjustment policies, gender main-streaming, global production, women's labor, and transnational activism.