The following courses will be offered in the Fall of 2024/Winter of 2025
For more information on each course, please see the course descriptions below.
For more detailed course information please visit the Faculty of Arts and Science website. Please note that course information listed in the Arts and Science Course Calendar supersedes information listed within the DEVS website.
Course Title: Development Studies in Global Perspective
Explores the relationships between global economic integration, technological change, environmental sustainability, political systems and cultural diversity. Introduces essential interdisciplinary perspectives for complex global challenges from poverty to climate change, and builds the foundations for ethical cross-cultural engagement.
Learning Hours: 120 (36aO; 36Tl, 74P)
Exclusion: DEVS 100/6.0 and DEVS 105/3.0
Course Title: Canada in the World
Canada in the World will help students build knowledge and analytical capacities in global development, with a focus on Canada. The course examines how processes of global development are differentiated across borders and axes of gender, racialization and colonization. Students will explore applications of theories of global change.
Learning Hours: 120 (36aO; 36Tl, 74P)
Exclusion: DEVS 100/6.0
Course Title: Foundations in Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives
This course will start students on a journey exploring diverse Indigenous knowledges and introduce Indigenous perspectives on important issues facing Canada and the world. With a strong local focus on Anishinaabe and/or Haudenosaunee knowledge and experiences, you will also develop a general knowledge of nations and peoples across North America. This course will prepare you to evaluate narratives related to Indigenous people and challenge the western cultural dominance arising from the history of colonization, centering Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. Course lectures and material will be presented from an Indigenous perspective using both Indigenous and mainstream teaching methods.
DEVS 220 equivalent
Course Title: Indigenous Studies II
Indigenous Studies II highlights the resilience and resistance of Indigenous communities as they grapple with gendered settler colonialism. The course examines Indigenous knowledge and governance within the settler nation state and the re-building of Indigenous communities. Topics include contemporary issues in Indigenous healing, art, teaching and learning, Indigenous activism, and socio-political life. Students engage in work that centers the voices of Indigenous peoples.
Note: Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.
Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T; 84P)
Prerequisite: DEVS 220/3.0
Course Title: The Global Political Economy of Development
This course introduces students to important debates, concepts and themes in the global political economy of development. Using a political economy perspective, we examine how different types of power relations are formed around the production, distribution and consumption of goods across local, national and international settings. We also examine how these power relations structure the institutions, processes and outcomes of global development. The course proceeds historically starting with an examination of the ways in which post-colonial countries were integrated into the world economy in the decades following the Second World War. Subsequently, we use this as a basis to examine more contemporary issues including good governance, free trade, and corporate social responsibility. No prior study of economics is needed for this course – we will be concerned with the real world of development, not abstract mathematical models.
Prerequisites: DEVS 101/3.0 or 100/6.0 or DEVS 105/3.0 (DEVS 101/3.0 can be taken concurrently in exceptional circumstances).
Course Title: Decolonizing Development
By interrogating concepts of culture and colonialism, the course invites students to question established development narratives, confront Eurocentric biases, and envision alternative pathways for inclusive, egalitarian, and culturally sensitive approaches to global development.
Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)
Prerequisites: (DEVS 101/3.0 or DEVS 100/6.0 or DEVS 105/3.0) and DEVS 230/3.0. (DEVS 101/3.0 can be taken concurrently in exceptional circumstances)
Course Title: Global Environmental Transformations
Examines the relationship between development and environmental change by introducing social science perspectives on themes including energy, agriculture, climate, urbanisation and water. With a focus on combining macro and micro analysis, the course reflects on the meaning of development in an era of global environmental transformation.Learning Hours: 120 (18L; 18G; 84P)
Prerequisites: Level 2 or above.
Course Title: Globalization, Gender, and Development
This course is designed for those interested in undertaking a critical analysis of the gendered impact of the globalization process and development policies with a focus on women in the Global South.
Note: Also offered as a distance course. Consult Arts and Science Online at https://www.queensu.ca/artsci_online/courses. Learning Hours may vary.
Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)
Prerequisites: (DEVS 101/3.0 or DEVS100 or DEVS 105/3.0) and (Level 2 or above or registration in the GAEN certificate) or permission of instructor.
Course Title: Global Health and Development
This course examines the nexus between global health and development with a focus on preparing students for work on contemporary health and wellbeing issues. It takes a multidisciplinary perspective, but largely from the field of social science, to analyze current global challenges including environmental and social transformations, and changing disease burden. Using case studies, students will learn important concepts and principles in global health and development. Innovative approaches that bridge global health and development will also be introduced in this course.
Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 2 or above and registration in any DEVS Plan or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Global Engagement
This course explores current thinking around the motivations for, and ethical implications of, working with communities on issues of social justice, inequality, and sustainable development. Students will engage in self-reflexive practices and work collaboratively to create tools and action plans for ethical global engagement in the future.
Note: Only offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
Learning Hours: 120 (84O;36P)
Prerequisites: (DEVS100/6.0 or DEVS 101/3.0 or DEVS 105/3.0) and (Level 2 or above or registration in the GAEN certificate)] or permission of instructor.
Course Title: Cross-Cultural Research Methods
How do we go from an idea or question to designing a research project to answer it? Students will learn how to prepare and design cross-cultural research projects for international development work, to understand and use selected methods from a critical perspective, to understand important elements underlying successful fieldwork and to learn to develop a development research proposal. We will cover research design, choosing the instruments, cross-checking and in-the-field analysis, entering the field, choosing the informants, analyzing the data and proposal writing.
Learning Hours: 132 (24L;12G;96P)
Prerequisites: (DEVS 100/6.0 or DEVS 101/3.0 or DEVS 105/3.0) and DEVS 230/3.0 and DEVS 240/3.0 (DEVS 100/6.0 can be taken concurrently with DEVS 230/3.0 or DEVS 240/3.0 in exceptional circumstances).
Course Title: Development in Action
The history of international development policy and aid is complex, a mixture of hopeful altruism, negotiated agreement, shifting paradigms and difficult power dynamics. Much of development policy and practice is a search for ways with which to address and mitigate persistent poverty, environmental insecurity, and social inequality. Many of these problems over the last century and beyond have remained or even escalated. Thus, Development Studies is frequently linked, directly or indirectly, to policy – to action – the core area of work and responsibility of development practice and often the career trajectory of the development professional. Development in practice is about the workings of development; it is about the ‘doing’ and ‘planning’ of development, which is fraught with political stakes and unexpected outcomes despite technocratic efforts to predict, manage and govern its conduct. Emerging insights from development in practice over the years also shed light on the dynamic but persistently unequal terms of engagement between the Global North and Global South and within development institutions.
Complex global, national, and local networks of relationships between international multilateral and bilateral development donors, national states, NGOs, professionals, and ‘recipient’ communities have converged (but also contested) around specific development agendas and the need to roadmap and govern development. This course aims to provide a knowledge base on the ways with which development in practice is concretely carried out in various fronts, such as in agenda-setting, project design and intervention. Students will also learn about emerging critical perspectives on development aid and work especially since it builds from and in many instances, perpetuates legacies of colonialism and is shadowed by a dominant neoliberal economic growth trajectory. It is a field marked by profound divisions, tensions, systemic inequalities, dividing societies into 'developed' and 'undeveloped.'
The course will also prepare students to engage with various actors and institutions in the development ‘industry’ while being reflective of their own positionality and vision for change in this increasingly troubled world. In short, the course aims to provide students with an honest and open view of the uneasy dilemmas and challenges of ‘doing’ development if they are to realize alternative futures.
Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12T;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 2 or above and registration in any DEVS plan or permission of the department
Course Title: Theories of Development
This course introduces students to various theories that attempt to explain what ‘development’ is, how it occurs (or why it does not occur) and to whose benefit. Despite the frequent use of the term ‘development’ in academic, policy and journalistic writings, there is little consensus on what it actually entails – or even if some discernable process exists at all. For example, while modernisation theory suggests that development is a sequence of structural changes that all societies eventually go through; post-development theories argue that the notion of ‘development’ is merely a rhetorical device that reproduces power relations between the West and the Rest. To begin to understand these debates – and the political issues at stake – we survey several broad areas of development theory including classical political economy, modernisation theory, dependency theory, neoclassicism, neoinstitutionalism, Marxism, post-colonialism, post-development, feminist theories and global political-ecology.
Learning Hours; 120 (24L;12T;84P)
Prerequisites: (DEVS 100/6.0 or DEVS 105/3.0) and DEVS 230/3.0 and DEVS 240/3.0. (DEVS 100/6.0 can be taken concurrently with DEVS 230/3.0 or DEVS 240/3.0 in exceptional circumstances).
Exclusions: POLS 346/3.0.
Course Title: Technology and Social Justice
Technology is a pivotal factor in shaping sustainable development. Many people view technology as a crucial component of development and hold high hopes for its potential to address issues such as poverty, diseases, environmental degradation, and climate change. However, some also recognize the negative aspects of technology and how it can exacerbate existing inequalities, leading to tensions in society, especially in the distribution of resources and the creation of new social injustices. This course will examine both the effects of technological innovation on society and the ways in which technology is influenced by cultural, economic, political, and organizational factors.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 3 or above and (registration in any DEVS Plan or registration in any Applied Science Program), or permission of the Department.
Equivalency: DEVS 330/3.0
Course Title: The Political Economy of Resource Extraction
This course analyzes the political economy of resource extraction, focusing on Canadian extraction, domestically and globally. Students will critically examine historical and contemporary extraction and its role in economies, livelihoods and transnational movement (e.g. migration and colonialism), and explore alternative extractive futures.
NOTE Priority will be given to students registered in a DEVS Plan during course selection.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above and [DEVS 101/3.0 or GNDS 120/3.0 or POLS 110/6.0* or POLS 111/3.0 or POLS 112/3.0 or SOCY 122/6.0). Exclusion DEVS 392/3.0 (Topic Title: The Political Economy of Resource Extraction - Winter 2019).
Course Title: NGO Policy-making and Development
Non-governmental organization (NGOs) have become key actors in the world of development influencing both the decision-making process and policy implementation. This course aims to provide students with basic knowledge and skills in preparation for work in the NGOs’ sector and a critical overview of the major issues involved in their interventions. The first part of the course introduces students to critical theories and debates on NGOs’ governance, state-society relationships and democracy. Special attention is given to the role and effectiveness of NGOs to influence the decision-making process and to impact policy implementation. The second part of the course focuses on NGOs’ managerial practices and knowledges and the challenges and constraints associated with their growing dependency on external funding. Thus, students explore aspects such as NGOs’ organisational management, legitimacy and accountability, the way these organisations facilitate capacity development, and NGOs future opportunities. Using a case-based approach, in the third part of the course students analyze the structures, missions and intervention approaches in a variety of international NGO areas such as agricultural development, poverty reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation, women’s rights, and humanitarian relief.
Learning Hours: 120(36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 3 or above
Exclusions: DEVS 392/3.0 Non-Governmental Organisations, Policy Making and Development
Course Title: Project Planning and Policy Advocacy
This course is designed to equip students with critical understanding of strategies, techniques and mindsets that can help social movements and other justice-oriented organizations contribute to policy advocacy in Global Development. This course connects theory with practice through four in-depth modules on policy advocacy in Global Development. Through independent historical and sociological research students will apply core concepts and best practices to develop new understandings about the challenges of designing a public campaign aimed at legal and policy changes toward the goal of global justice advocacy. Students will also learn to assess where policy advocacy fits within a broader spectrum of transformative societal change.
Note: This course no longer includes project planning. Students interested in project planning are encouraged to take DEVS 210 (Development in Practice)
NOTE Only offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
Learning Hours 120 (72O;48P)
Prerequisites: [(DEVS 240/3.0 or DEVS 280/3.0) and (Level 2 or above or registration in GAEN certificate)] or permission of instructor.
Course Title: Contemporary Southern Africa: Development Trends and Challenges
This course first provides the historical and regional context necessary to understand urban southern Africa’s contemporary struggles, then examines strategies to address key development challenges and how they may be creating opportunities for new ways of thinking about citizenship in South Africa and the Global South more generally.
NOTE: DEVS 363 is the qualifying course for students who wish to attend the summer study program in South Africa.
Learning Hours: 20 (24L;12T;8G;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 3 or above
Course Title: The (De) Colonial Struggle
This course will challenge students to critically examine the ways in which colonialism and decolonization has shaped the social, political, historical, and economic landscapes of settler states. The first part of this course focuses on the relational dynamics between the colonizer and the colonized, elucidating how this relationship has impacted historic and contemporary understandings of indigeneity and sovereignty. The second part of the course addresses the various ways that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples work towards decolonization through processes of ‘unlearning’ and re-presencing.
Learning Hours: 120 (36O;84P)
Course Title: Land Politics and Health
This course explores the complexity of land politics and its implications for health and health promotion at local and global levels. It starts by conceptualizing land politics as deeply steeped in political ecologies which produce and reinforce health inequities. With such theoretical framing, students will learn the situatedness of contemporary concepts and processes in land politics (including environmental appropriation, exploitation, dispossession, and repossession) in broader discourses of environmental (in)justice and sustainability. It will also discuss how power and politics over land access are organized and operationalized at multiple scales to influence longstanding health inequalities. The course will conclude by examining ways in which global health can benefit from equity in land politics, and assist students to examine their future roles in promoting healthy environments and healthy populations through ‘equitable land reforms’ in communities and at the global level.
NOTE Priority will be given to students registered in a DEVS Plan during course selection.
Prerequisites: Level 3 or above and registration in any DEVS Plan, or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Climate Change and Disaster Risk
The world is experiencing increasing extreme and slow onset climate change events and intensifying disasters. Cyclones, floods, heat waves and longer dry spells are now more intense and frequent, having immediate- and long-term adverse effects on agriculture, water systems, urban living, and food security. Globally, marginalized groups least responsible for climate change are also its most vulnerable. Climate change and disasters thus exacerbate already existing and unjust conditions of vulnerability and insecurity. The first part of the course will examine the ontological framings of climate change, disaster risk, vulnerability and resilience from various intellectual streams such as: risk/hazards, ecological resilience, and political ecology. The second part will explore how these ontological framings translate into practical responses and programs such as climate change adaptation, mitigation, resilience-building, and disaster risk reduction. Despite considerable traction and resources that characterize these programs today, there is heightened concern and unease that unjust conditions of vulnerability continue unaddressed. Finally, in the search for counterpoint pathways, the course will be bookended by visions and platforms that imagine more ecologically just, ‘care-ful’ and convivial futures envisaged by the climate, gender and environmental justice and degrowth-oriented scholars and movements.
NOTE Priority will be given to students registered in a DEVS Plan during course selection.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 3 or above and registration in any DEVS Plan, or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Indigenous Theory
Alexandr Dugin at Moscow University states in his lecture series on Ethnosociology that Indigeneity is the “bedrock” of every culture whether historical or modern. This Course, Indigenous Theory, explores Indigeneity from the perspective of phenomenology and existentialism in an effort to connect the dynamics of Indigeneity with applications in a Global axial age. Course material and discussion will cover evolutionary trends from the paleolithic period through transitory embodiments of cultural development, colonialism, class, migration, population growth, up to and including cultural products of Enlightenment and Science. Scholarship in Indigenous theory currently ranges through diverse fields of industrial management, marketing, multi-polar ethics and law, artificial intelligence, political and historical dynamics, ethnokinetics, and re-indigenization. Through a survey of classical and modern scholarship Indigenous Theory will help the student develop a foundational understanding of this emerging dynamic intersection of biology, culture and ecology.
Assessment in Indigenous Theory will be based on a student’s commitment to learning both individually and as a group member. Assignments include a collective course annotated bibliography of independent research, a course collective glossary of terms, progress reports and a research proposal using indigenous theory as a methodology in examining a current concern or issue.
NOTE Priority will be given to students registered in a DEVS Plan during course selection.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 3 or above and registration in any DEVS Plan, or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Work Placement in Development Studies
Provides students with first-hand experience working with an agency involved in international development, either in Canada or abroad. The placement will normally be for 10-20 weeks, to be negotiated with the sponsoring agency. Students are required to attend preparatory meetings (in Winter Term), prepare a work-study proposal, a research paper on the placement and maintain a journal on a continuing basis while on their placement. In addition to academic requirements, students are required to enroll in the Queen's Emergency Support Program, attend pre-departure orientation and complete Queen's Off-Campus Activity Safety Policy (OCASP) requirements.
Note: Students must apply to take this course and are normally responsible for all costs associated with participation in this course.
Learning Hours: 260 (60G;200P)
Prerequisites: Level 3 or above and registration in the DEVS Major Plan and departmental approval in advance from the Head of Global Development Studies.
Co-requisite: DEVS 411/3.0 (Under special circumstances a student can substitute DEVS 502/3.0 (Directed Readings in Development Studies) for DEVS 411/3.0. Permission for the latter may be granted to students who have completed all other degree requirements, and who do not need to return to Queen's University campus following completion of their placement. Students must seek prior approval from the Placement Coordinator, Global Development Studies for this option).
Exclusions: No more than one course from DEVS 410/6.0; DEVS 420/3.0; DEVS 432/6.0.
Course Title: Post Placement Seminar in Development Studies
Required for students who have successfully completed the course requirements for DEVS 410. The course will provide a forum for students to debrief and to critically examine their placement experience. Evaluation based on presentation, participation, journal synthesis and a final report.
Learning Hours: 120 (36S;84P)
Prerequisites: DEVS 410/6.0 and Level 3 or above and registration in the DEVS Major Plan and departmental approval in advance from the Placement Coordinator, Global Development Studies.
One-Way Exclusion: May not be taken with or after DEVS 420/3.0; DEVS 421/3.0.
Course Title: Study Placement in Development Studies
Participation in an organized educational or cultural exchange, either
i) one term of studies at a developing-country university, or
ii) an exchange program in a developing-country setting with an organization such as Canada World Youth or Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute for at least 6 weeks.
Students are required to prepare a work-study proposal, a risk assessment of their placement and attend a pre-departure orientation. Assessment will also be based on a journal and final report.
NOTE Students participating in the study period at the University of Witswatersand (WITS) in Johannesburg will pay ancillary fee for programming (e.g. cultural field trips, bussing). Students will pay all travel and living costs while studying at Wits. The study period at Wits is mid-July to end of August.
Learning Hours: 124 (40G;84P)
Prerequisite: Level 3 or above and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours plan and departmental approval in advance from the Placement Coordinator, Global Development Studies.
Exclusion: No more than 1 course from DEVS 410/6.0; DEVS 420/3.0;
Exclusion: No more than 3.0 units from DEVS 420/3.0; DEVS 421/3.0.
Course Title: Critical Global Health
Note: Taught concurrently with DEVS 862/3.0.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours Plan and (DEVS 300/3.0 or DEVS 340/3.0) or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Political Ecology
The interdisciplinary field of Political ecology highlights the relevance of power and politics for shaping the relationship between humans and their environments. It first emerged in the 1970s and 1980s with the specific aim of challenging ‘apolitical’ accounts of human-environment relations that rely upon simplistic causal links between population growth, poverty, environmental degradation, and social conflicts. In the first part of this course, we will explore core theoretical, conceptual, and methodological trends and debates in the field of political ecology. In the second part, we will cover a range of cases of environmental problems in various socio-ecological contexts including those concerned with the climate emergency, deforestation, water degradation and energy injustices. We will also look for inspiration through the transformative work of organizations, communities and movements crafting solutions to environmental problems. The overall goal of this course is thus to introduce students to important contexts and tools for analyzing the complexity of human systems and their relationships to the natural world and for contributing to solutions to environmental problems.
Note: Taught concurrently with DEVS 862/3.0.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours plan and (DEVS 300/3.0 or DEVS 340/3.0) or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Approaches to Sustainable Livelihood Development
Sustainable livelihoods approaches have become increasingly important in the discussion of development over the past few decades. These approaches are concerned with understanding the various resources and strategies that people draw on to construct, improve and defend their livelihoods in ways they find meaningful. In this course, we will explore a variety of related theoretical perspectives including those focused on social (and other) capital, human capabilities, and agency. After reviewing these approaches, we will evaluate their efficacy for analysing a variety of rural, urban, and peri-urban development case studies. Based on our review of theory and its application to case studies, students will be tasked with developing their own framework for analysing livelihoods and identifying possible avenues for contributing to their enhancement.
Note: Taught concurrently with DEVS 862/3.0.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honour plan and (DEVS 300/3.0 or DEVS 340/3.0) or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Economy and the Environment in the Global South
This course explores the intersections between economic growth, inequality, and the ecological crisis. It focuses on a critical evaluation of green growth discourses as well as an examination of alternatives including degrowth and buen vivir. Additionally, proposals for how to simultaneously tackle climate change and economic inequality through a just transition, a global Green New Deal, and climate reparations are considered. Students in this seminar will examine these issues through discussion of readings, examination of case studies, and participation in simulations and games.
Note: Taught concurrently with DEVS 862/3.0.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours plan and (DEVS 300/3.0 or DEVS 340/3.0) or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Tourism in Transition
In 2019, tourism accounted for 10-11% of employment globally. For some countries, its promotion was the principal development strategy, with noteworthy successes achieved over the past few decades. Compelling critiques of tourism’s environmental, cultural, unequal economic and other harmful impacts, as well as rapid changes in technology and in tourist demography, were giving rise both to new harms and new strategies to mitigate them including, notably, “eco-tourism.” COVID-19 largely shut down the industry with devastating impacts in tourism-dependent economies. But it also sparked creative initiatives to re-think tourism as a sustainable, social justice-oriented development strategy. This course critically assesses the history and contemporary practices of tourism planning for a post-pandemic, climate crisis, “new normal” world.
Note: Taught concurrently with DEVS 862/3.0.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours plan and (DEVS 300/3.0 or DEVS 340/3.0) or permission of the Department.
Course Title: The Political Economy of Urban Infrastructures
This course is designed to introduce students to urban infrastructures and to understand how they come to be developed and the role they play globally. We will explore how major infrastructure projects can drive growth, who benefits, what are the social and environmental costs, how these projects are governed, and what role the private sector is playing.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours plan and (DEVS 300/3.0 or DEVS 340/3.0) or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Development and the Global Agrofood System
There can be little doubt that the current era is witnessing dramatic change in the global production and consumption of food. In some respects this represents that continuation of previous trends. However, in number of important ways agricultural restructuring in the late twentieth century appears completely new. Using a diverse disciplinary perspective, this course analyses key aspects of contemporary changes in the global agro-food system. Topics covered will range from industrialization and corporate control of food and farming, the geography of more ‘flexible’ forms of manufacturing and service provisions, feminization of agricultural labour, localized and place-based agriculture, non-agricultural uses of agro-food resources, financialization of food, food sovereignty to new landscapes of consumption, changing forms of political organization and protests and the relationship between food and culture, specifically how communities and societies identify and express themselves through food.
Note: Taught concurrently with DEVS 862/3.0.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours plan and (DEVS 300/3.0 or DEVS 340/3.0) or permission of the Department.
Course Title: Feminisms in Environment and Development
Popular mainstream “women and environment” development discourses see nature as an ‘unruly’ force that disproportionately impacts women during environmental or climate change crises. Instead of pursuing this line of thinking, this seminar on Feminisms in Environment and Development will foreground “feminist ecologies” highlighting the dynamic interdependencies between society and nature that colonial processes have disrupted. Discussions will shed light on how people dynamically interact with nature through their intersectional subjectivities, embodied knowledges, and care for land, water, forests and the commons.
The seminar also recognizes that women’s bodies are their first territory: however, growing neoliberal accumulation and corporate control of resources that extract nature also exploit feminized and racialized bodies, their labor and resources, thus keeping them persistently unequal and marginalized.
Students will also familiarize themselves with present efforts to include gender discourses in sustainable development debates and policy prescriptions. They will critically analyze how “gender” has been co-opted or accommodated by ‘smart’ climate and environmental interventions that sidestep justice for exploited segments of nature and society.
Note: Taught concurrently with DEVS 862/3.0.
Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
Prerequisites: Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honour plan and (DEVS 300/3.0 or DEVS 340/3.0) or permission of the Department.
The course will involve a critical review of the literature on a clearly-defined topic relevant to development, a synthesis of ideas, and a final thesis under the supervision of a faculty member.
DEVS 501 is a 6.0 unit full-year course designed to allow academically strong students to pursue in-depth research on a topic of interest with supervision by a faculty member who has expertise in this area. The following criteria apply:
- The option is most suited for students who see pursuing an MA (and potentially a PhD) as a key element of their plans. The course provides a learning experience similar to undertaking graduate studies.
- A minimum GPA of 3.3 (B+) or higher is required for consideration.
- Students must have a core theme or research question that they want to work on: i.e. a subject matter that they are passionate about and are keen to research and write on at length!
- Students must have a faculty member in mind to supervise and that faculty member must agree to supervise. Please note, accepting a 501 student is entirely the prerogative of the faculty member and they are under no obligation to do so. Most faculty members have a large amount of graduate supervision, so accepting DEVS 501 students is not always possible due to time constraints. Many faculty will only agree to supervise a 501 student when they receive a request from an exceptional student who is passionate about a subject area directly related to the faculty member’s own expertise.
Should you meet these criteria and have a suitable faculty member willing to supervise a 501 thesis, please note the following:
The course is a full year course, meaning that it is a heavy workload (equivalent to the reading and writing involved in two 49X seminars). This course is not an easy option! You will need strong powers of self-organization and self-discipline because writing a thesis is a difficult endeavor that demands a lot of time, energy and determination. The challenge of writing a thesis must seem exciting, rather than daunting to you! It’s not for everyone.
The topic of a DEVS 501 Honours Thesis can be on any key question related to the broad field of development studies. You should have a clear idea of what you want to work on before you approach a faculty member (and do make sure that they are suitable in terms of their expertise).
Should they agree to supervise you, there is an official DEVS 501 application form available from the main office located in Macintosh-Corry Hall, Room B411 or by emailing the Academic Programs Assistant. You need to get both yourself and the supervisor sign it to be enrolled. This must be provided to the DEVS Academic Programs Assistant by the end of June prior to course registration.
More information about the course can be found in the Thesis Guidelines for Students: DEVS 501 Thesis Guidelines.doc
Note: The student must identify a willing supervisor from DEVS or a cognate department and receive permission of the Department of Global Development Studies (see above).
Learning Hours: 240 (24L;216P)
Prerequisites: Minimum Cumulative GPA of 3.50 and Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours Plan.
Exclusion: DEVS 450/3.0.
This course enables a student or a group of students to explore a body of literature on a selected topic in development. The focus may be by theme, by region or by academic approach and can span the humanities, social sciences and environmental sciences. NOTE The students are responsible for approaching a professor with whom they wish to work and who is willing to undertake this project. Please note, accepting a DEVS 502 student is entirely the prerogative of the faculty member and they are under no obligation to do so. Most faculty members have a large amount of graduate supervision, so accepting DEVS 502 students is not always possible due to time constraints.
Learning Hours: 120 (12L;108P)
Prerequisites: Minimum Cumulative GPA of 3.50 and Level 4 and registration in the DEVS Major or Joint Honours Plan.
Please contact the DEVS Academic Programs Assistant to secure a copy of the DEVS 502 Approval Form and Course Outline.