Note: This syllabus is just a sample. Readings, speakers, and topics are subject to change based
on availability of faculty experts and student interests.
Global Perspectives: Social Justice and Making
Change
LSC Practicum
Fall 2016
Instructor: Jara Connell, PhD Student in Anthropology
jarac@brandeis.edu
Faculty Sponsor: Janet McIntosh, Associate Professor of Anthropology
janetmc@brandeis.edu
Course Description:
This course explores several humanitarian and social justice issues that
challenge humanity worldwide. Diversity – a central value of the Brandeis community –
is an increasingly promoted ideal in our contemporary political landscape.
Advocating and appreciating diversity requires one to consider and take seriously the
different values, priorities, and beliefs held by communities of people around the globe.
This course will consider inequality in light of these diverse world views as well as global
power structures by focusing on themes with global relevancy such as race, healthcare,
and environmental justice. This course will introduce tools for thinking through complex
social problems as well as ways of conceptualizing the global, the local, and the
relationship between those shifting and constructed locations.
While this course is focused on social problems, it also considers how
communities have attempted to solve these problems. Students will analyze and
evaluate local responses to these global inequalities in order to build models for
effecting social change in ethical and conscientious ways. The class will work alongside
faculty experts to understand and untangle case studies from around the world on a
variety of relevant contemporary issues – including economic inequality, development,
and gender identity. Ultimately, students will gain a nuanced understanding of some of
the most urgent challenges facing humanity today, as well as a toolkit for facing these
challenges, be it with policy, protest, or both.
Final Project:
Students will work in small groups (3-5 students) to understand a contemporary
social issue of their choosing in its specific global and local context. This assignment
involves three components: a research paper, a presentation, and a product.
• Research Paper: Students will collaborate on a 6-8 page research paper that
explores both global and local perspectives on their topic. Students will also
evaluate local and global responses to their topic and make suggestions for
future action on their topic.
•
•
Product: Students will create and promote a product that addresses the social
issue their project addresses. This component could take many forms, and direct
engagement with the issue is encouraged.
o Example: Students could create a short documentary or PSA (5-10 mins)
exploring a social issue and organize a viewing and discussion on
campus.
o Example: Students could contact an organization (an NGO or an
educational program) working on their topic and offer to create useful
promotional/educational materials for them, such as a
o Example: Students could create a blog or social media account that
contributes several (the range will depend on the medium) significant and
thoughtful posts to an existing online conversation.
Presentation: Students will present their project to the class in a 10-15 minute
talk. This presentation should provide a summary of the group research paper,
an explanation and presentation of the product, and connect their project to the
themes of the course.
Sample Units:
Topic: Race and Ethnicity
Case Study: Land Reform in Zimbabwe
Faculty Expert: Janet McIntosh, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Faculty Head of
Global Perspectives LSC
Sample Readings:
• Hanlon, Joseph, Jeannette Manjengwa, and Theresa Smart. 2012. Chapter 1,
“Veterans and Land,” in Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land. Kumarian Press.
• Selections from “Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe.” 2002. Human Rights
Watch Vol. 14 No. 1.
• Scoones, Ian, Nelson Marongwe, Blasio Mavedzenge, Jacob Mahenehene, Felix
Murimbarimba, Chrispen Sukume. 2010. Chapter 1, “Livelihoods and Land
Reform in Zimbabwe.” Zimbabwe’s Land Reform: Myths and Realities. James
Currey.
Topic: International Development
Case Study: Development NGOs in Papau New Guinea
Faculty Expert: Rajesh Sampath, Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Justice,
Rights, and Social Change and Associate Director of the Master's Program in
Sustainable International Development
Sample Readings:
• Rollason, Will. 2010. “My Boss: Insincerity, Capitalism and Development in
PNG”. Etnofoor 22 (1). Stichting Etnofoor: 103–17.
•
Wahlén, CB. 2014. “Constructing Conservation Impact: Understanding
Monitoring and Evaluation in Conservation NGOs”. Conservation and
Society 12: 77-88.
•
Henning, BM. 2015. “Market-based Conservation in Melanesia:
Contrasting Expectations of Landowners and Conservationists”.
Conservation and Society 13: 299-310.