AN336 Half Unit
The Anthropology of Development
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Agathe Faure
Availability
This course is available on the BA in Anthropology and Law, BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in Social Anthropology, Erasmus Reciprocal Programme of Study, Exchange Programme for Students from University of California, Berkeley, Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Cape Town), Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Fudan) and Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Tokyo). This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course is freely available to General Course students. It does not require permission.
Requisites
Mutually exclusive courses:
This course cannot be taken with AN237 at any time on the same degree programme.
Course content
This course explores how anthropologists have evaluated, criticised and contributed to development. Focussing on both 'Big D' development (schemes of improvement or projects) and 'little d' development (change which occurs as the result of economic growth or capitalist expansion) the course shows how anthropological insights have been used to change practices from within as well as critique development from the outside. From anthropological work which seeks pragmatic engagement to that which deconstructs development as an oppressive and power laden discourse, the course aims to give students a broad background to the field. Topics covered include the role of the state; local politics and power relations; gender and empowerment; development as discourse and 'aidnography'; neoliberalism and global capital; corporate social responsibility; markets and micro credit; and the relationship between 'tradition' and ‘modernity’. Throughout, the course will draw upon a broad range of ethnographic examples.
Teaching
10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
The contact hours listed above are the minimum expected.
Formative assessment
Essay (1500 words)
Students will have the opportunity to submit one formative essay of up to 1500 words during the course.
Students will be informed of their formative submission deadline by email by the end of Week 3 of term.
Indicative reading
Gardner and Lewis 2015, Anthropology and Development: Twenty First Century Challenges;
Ferguson, J. 1990 The Anti-Politics Machine: Development, Depoliticisation and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho;
Cambridge University Press; Li, T, 2014 Land's End: Capitalist Relations on an Indigenous Frontier;
Karim, L., 2011 Micro-Finance and its Discontents: Women and Debt in Bangladesh; Elyachar, J. 2005;
Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, the Market and the State in Cairo;
Scherz, C. 2014. Having People, Having Heart: Charity, Sustainable Development, and Problems of Dependence in Central Uganda; Scott; J. 1998, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed.
Detailed reading lists are provided at the beginning of the course.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 3000 words) in Winter Term Week 1
Key facts
Department: Anthropology
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 6
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Capped 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.