556: Unit 2
8. Getting situated
From here on, all readings are in the yellow collection of documents unless otherwise noted
READ: Glossary of terms in reading, 1-8; Paul Collier, Chapter 1: Falling Behind, 9-13.
What is poverty? Why are some people poor? Some nations? Who or what is to blame?
9. What do we mean by “poor?”: Growth Theory
READ: Georgio Secondi, The Solow Model of Economic Growth, 15—26; Georgio Secondi, Endogenous Growth Theory, 27-30.
This reading is slightly more quantitatively oriented than what you may be accustomed to, but read carefully and do your best. What seem to be the major components in play on Solow’s theory? How does Solow see the roles of capital and labor? Savings? Technological progress? How does the Solow model help you understand economic growth? What are the limitations of this model?
In class we'll look at Romer and ask: How does Romer “edit” Solow’s theory? What components become more important in Romer’s theory and what are the results?
10. Colonialism: Africa's Experience
READ: Ehiedu E.G. Iweriebor, The colonization of Africa, 39-44; Sheldon Gellar, The Colonial Era (Africa), 45-54 (JUST pages 134, from African Participation to 137); John Reader, Africa: Drawing the Line, 55-60;
What motivated colonizing nations? How did different colonizing nations approach their control of African populations and resources? What was the result for Africans? Why does Reader title his chapter “Drawing the Line?” What does the story of the village of Jassini suggest to you?
11. Africa’s Emerging Independence
READ: John Reader, "First Dance of Freedom" from Africa: Emerging From Colonialism: Early Independence, 61-71; Kwame Nkrumah, I speak of freedom, 72-73
What motivated independence? What factors influenced the viability of newly independent nations? How did the backdrop of the Cold War affect the newly independent nations?
12. East Asia: Underdevelopment & Tigers
READ: Vijay Prashad, The Darker Nations: Singapore, 74-81 (just to middle p. 255).
Why does Prashad believe that the Tigers had such a singular development experience relative to other poor regions? How would you characterize “development” for Singapore?
13. Latin America – Different timeline. Different story?
CHOOSE: A poor country to study. Go to this page and download Table 1 the Human Development Index and components; Choose three countries listed in the Low category, below .0550 rating. You may include a country whose HDI is above .0550 but has a low GNI per capita--say, under $3,000. In class, we'll make sure you aren't all doing the same countries.
READ: Thomas Skidmore: Modern Latin America, Chapter 12, Strategies for Development, 82-86 (Note: on pg. 345 you can stop reading after the Narratives of Backwardness section and the flip ahead and the document continues on p. 350. And there are a couple sections there that I marked "skim" in the margins...skim those.); Skidmore, Chapter 4: Central America, 87-96
Note to yourself the following as you read:
How do patterns of colonial rule and independence differ in Latin America than in Africa?
How did Latin America try to approach economic development?
What issues defined Central America as its countries became independent? What are the implications?
14. New Nationalism & Legacies of Colonization
READ: Vigay Prashad, Darker Nations: Introduction, etc., 97-110 (just the first two paragraphs of the introduction, then skip ahead to “Bandung” and read up to the first paragraph break on 42--then begin again at bottom of 47 and read to p. 50).
FYI:The Bandung Conference was a meeting of leaders of newly (or soon-to-be) independent nations in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955.
To consider: What is the "idea of the Third World" according to Prashad? Why did the Bandung conference occur? What is the significance of such a meeting? What is neo-colonialism? How similar are colonialism and neo-colonialism? In class we'll look at Nkrumah “Neo-colonialism” handout and review “I Speak of Freedom”
15. Gandhi and Nehru documents, Tuesday, Jan. 24
READ (not in the yellow reader): documents in the separate batch I gave you a week ago (they aren't in order): Gandhi "Quit India" excerpt the three documents after that, by Nehru.
For some background on the partition of India, you might want to watch this 11-minute documentary. How did Nehru's position on communism and India's independent path evolve from the 30s to the 50s. You can find some maps here and here.
16. Work on history of your country, Wednesday, Jan. 25
I'll be in the classroom in case you need help. Answer these questions.
Maggie: Mozambique
Molly: Yemen
Cade: Nigeria
Cindy: Madagascar
Phe: Bangladesh
Aruli: Haiti
Nhan: Rawanda
Ina: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Will: Liberia
Christian:
Aiden: Senegal
Eric: Pakistan
17. Theories on poverty and growth: Dependency Theory, Thursday, Jan. 26
READ: Kwame Nkrumah, A Redefinition of Neo-Colonialism, 113-116 (stop after the second full paragraph on 416); Vincent Ferraro, Dependence Theory, 125-131 (skip from middle of p. 60 to top of p. 63.).
Does all trade rely on a dependent status of poor countries? According to these theorists, can poor countries engage with rich ones without dependency playing a role? If dependency is contributing to poverty, what policies might improve the status of the poor countries? What are the limitations of these theories?
17.5. Release time. Friday, Jan. 27.
Continue working on your Country worksheet. Class won't meet.
18. Turn in Country research worksheet, And the role of debt. Tuesday, Jan. 31.
On Tuesday, if possible, I'd like us to talk about the excerpts from Jason Hickel on the Role of Debt in making nations poor which I will hand out in class and email to those who didn't attend on Thursday. Homework limits have been extended again, so if you feel unable to do the whole reading, you can just read 137-148. You can also turn in your research worksheet on Thursday if you like.