Universität Wien
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240040 SE VM4 / VM6 - Development theory and critique in Africa (2023S)

7.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 09.03. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum SG2 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Thursday 23.03. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum SG2 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Thursday 20.04. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum SG2 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Thursday 04.05. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum SG2 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Thursday 25.05. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum SG2 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Thursday 15.06. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum SG2 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Thursday 29.06. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum SG2 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

African approaches and critical debates to and about development are rarely acknowledged and taken up in the field of international development. This is all the more astonishing since the countries of sub-Saharan Africa have for decades been the focus of international measures, discourses, and interventions that (supposedly) take place in the interest of Africa's economic and social development. Yet, at least since the severe consequences of neoliberal globalization on African populations, economic and social systems in the 1980s and 1990s, African thinkers have increasingly pointed to the need to create Africa-centered approaches and to decolonize research and thinking about development in Africa. Their critique points to a number of issues worth considering, such as the universalization of normative concepts by which Western experiences and ideas are transposed to African realities; the emphasis on the intersectionality of 'race', 'class', (neo-)colonialism, and gender in the analysis of global inequality; the critique of developmentalist approaches; questions about the universalization of human rights and ethical concepts built on African value systems (ubuntu).
The following topics will be addressed on the basis of selected African thinkers and their texts:
- Concepts of development in African languages
- Democratization and human rights
- Critique of neoliberal globalization and humanitarianism
- Coloniality of gender and feminist theory in Africa
- Social change and the role of religion
- Decolonization of knowledge

Assessment and permitted materials

- Attendance and active participation during the semester (excused absence in max. one of seven blocks is allowed).
- Preparatory reading of texts for each meeting and submission of a written summary of the respective basic text two days earlier
- Group presentation
- Writing and presenting minutes of one of the blocks
- As a seminar paper, write a critical commentary on the literature of one of the 7 blocks. Length: approximately 6,000 words. Deadline: July 31, 2023

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

For a positive assessment, all course works must be met during the semester and a seminar paper must be submitted.
Grading key:
Seminar paper: 60 %
Group presentation: 15 %
Written summaries: 15 %
Minutes: 10

Examination topics

No exam

Reading list

Ake, Claude. 1988. "The Political Economy of Development: Does It Have a Future?" International Social Science Journal 40.4: 485-97.
Anyidoho, Nana Akua. 2020. “Women, Gender, and Development in Africa”. In: Yacob-Haliso O., Falola T. (Hg.) The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_63-1
Emeagwali, Gloria. 2011. “The Neo-Liberal Agenda and the IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Programs with Reference to Africa.” In Dip Kapoor (Hg.) Critical Perspectives on Neoliberal Globalization, Development and Education in Africa and Asia, 3-14. Rotterdam: Sense Publ.
Lewis, Desiree. 2004. “African Gender Research and Postcoloniality: Legacies and Challenges”. In: African Gender Scholarship. Concepts, Methodology and Paradigms. CODESRIA Gender Series 1, Dakar, 27-41.
Maathai, Wangari. 2009. “Deficits: Indebtedness and Unfair Trade.” In The Challenge for Africa, 83-110. London: Arrow Books.
Maathai, Wangari. 2010. “Culture: The Missing Link.” Chap. 8 in The Challenge for Africa, 160-183. New York: Pantheon Books.
Mama, Amina. 1998. “Khaki in the Family: Gender Discourses and Militarism in Nigeria.” African Studies Review 41 (2): 1-17.
Manji, Firoze. 2008. “The Depoliticisation of Poverty.” In Rasna Warah (Hg.) Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits: An Anthology, 173–89. Author House.
Mbembe, Achille. 2016. Postkolonie: Zur Politischen Vorstellungskraft im zeitgenössischen Afrika. Wien Berlin: Verlag Turia Kant.
McFadden, Patricia. 2007. “African Feminist Perspectives of Post-Coloniality,” The Black
Scholar 37(1): 36-42.
Moyo, Dambisa. 2011. Dead Aid: Warum Entwicklungshilfe nicht funktioniert und was Afrika besser machen kann. Berlin: Haffmans & Tolkemitt.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. 2013. “Coloniality of Power and African Development.” Chap. 3 in Empire, Global Coloniality and African Subjectivity, 75–98. New York: Berghahn Books.
Nnaemeka, Obioma. 2004. “Nego-Feminism: Theorizing, Practicing, and Pruning Africa’s Way.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 29 (2), 357-385.
Odhiambo, E. S. Atieno. 2002. “The Cultural Dimensions of Development in Africa.” African Studies Review 45 (3): 1-16.
Oruka, Henry Odera. 1989. "The Philosophy of Foreign Aid: A Question of the Right to a Human Minimum." Praxis International 8 (4): 465-75.
Oyèwùmí, Oyèrónké (2015): “Kolonialisierte Körper und Köpfe: Gender und Kolonialismus.“ In Franziska Dübgen und Stefan Skupien (Hg.) Afrikanische politische Philosophie. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 218-259.
Rodney, Walter. 2012 [1972] How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Cape Town [u.a.]: Pambazuka.
Sarr, Felwine. 2019. Afrotopia. Berlin: Matthes & Seitz Berlin.
Shivji, Issa G. 2009. Accumulation in an African Periphery: A Theoretical Framework. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers.
Shivji, Issa G. 2019. “Good Governance, Bad Governance and the Quest for Democracy in Africa: An Alternative Perspective,” Working Paper No. 8, available at: http://www.hakielimu.org/files/publications/document67good_bad_governance_en.pdf
Tamale, Sylvia (2020) Decolonization and Afro-Feminism. Ottawa: Daraja Press.
wa Thiong’o, Ngugi (2008) Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer

Association in the course directory

VM4 / VM6

Last modified: Tu 07.03.2023 19:28