240115 SE VM7 / VM4 - Gender, Power, Intersectionality: Striving towards Empowerment or Emancipation (2019S)

Empowerment, one of the buzzwords of development discourse, has not lost its currency ever since having been mainstreamed in development policy in the 1990s. It did, however, gain a multitude of meanings, being adopted by actors as diverse as the World Bank and grassroots organisations, with often contradictory assumptions, agendas, or aims. But who is supposed to be empowered, how, why, and by whom? Which understanding of power do actors draw on? Why is gender at the center of ‘empowerment talk’ when it comes to development and how exactly are these two concepts connected?
In this course, we will deal with different concepts of power, discuss different understandings of empowerment and trace its changing conceptual development. Students will be expected to work prepare obligatory readings and discuss them in class, while working on an individual topic throughout the semester. They will be invited to present their topics and engage with the presentations of their peers. In addition to short written contributions, a final paper should be written about the individual topic of choice.
At the end of the course, you will be familiar with diverse understandings of empowerment, contextualize them, and be able to link them with according concepts of power. You will engage with case studies in order to understand the contested implications of empowerment in practice. You will be able to navigate the meanings of empowerment in development discourse and assess claims to empowerment by different actors, drawing on a strong theoretical background knowledge.