Geography 408 - Fall Semester 2010
Geography of Development
Section 11907
Time: 10:05 – 11:25 Tuesday & Thursday
Room: Burnside Hall 306
Professor: Dr. Jon Unruh, Department of Geography
Tel: 398-8989
Email: jon.unruh@mcgill.ca
Office: 308B
Office hours: By appointment
Course Description
This course will examine the geography of development by looking at a selection of critical
topics, with examples drawn primarily from Africa. The course will examine how the
international donor, diplomatic, and science communities work, along with the role of host
governments--in pursuing agendas for development.
The course begins with an overview of how international development works at the level of
donors and science. Next we consider the broad issue of land rights in development,
focusing on the role of land rights in armed conflict and recovery from armed conflict.
We then move on to an examination of a series of selected topics important to
development. These may include: 1) food security; 2) land degradation and desertification;
3) climate change; 4) wildlife conservation and development; and 5) conflict, security, and
the peace process.
Course Material
The course will encompass lectures, readings, and documentary videos. Both lecture and
reading material will be available electronically on WebCT, with some readings available
on the Internet. Readings will be assigned in class. It is the student’s responsibility to
become familiar with WebCT.
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Course Evaluation
Course evaluation will include:
1. Two in-class tests (which may not take the entire class period).
a. Not comprehensive
b. Worth 40 percent of final grade each
2. Documentary video critique exercise, involving three videos.
a. Details provided on separate sheet
b. Worth 10 percent of final grade
3. One take home written exercise
a. To be assigned in-class subsequent to the second test
b. Due finals week, date to be specified
c. Worth 10 percent of the final grade
Class Policies
Class policies follow McGill guidelines. In particular please note that:
1. Attendance: students are expected to attend class. It is the student’s responsibility to
obtain lecture notes from fellow students if classes are missed.
2. Accommodation for religious observances are dealt with according to McGill
policy.
3. Tests must be taken at the scheduled time in class. No make-up tests will be
possible except under exceptional conditions (e.g. hospital stay, religious
observance, etc., – documentation required).
4. Supplemental work to improve grades is NOT allowed.
5. The instructor reserves the right to apply a curve to exam grades.
6. McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must
understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other
academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures
(see http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity/ for more information).
Tentative Schedule
Note that the schedule is subject to change, with changes announced in class. Students are
responsible for being aware of changes in the schedule
I. Introduction: Overview of course and the ‘Development Machine” (Sept 2 – Sept 7)
1. Course Introduction and Overview.
2. International Development and How it Works – The Development Machine
3. How the International Science Machine Influences Development; The Scientific
Method and Development Policy
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II. Land Rights, Development and Recovery from Conflict (Sept 9 – Oct 12)
1. Fundamentals of land tenure
a. Readings:
i. Land Tenure, Economic Growth, and Poverty in Sub-Saharan
Africa, pp. 31-49 (Evolving land rights, policy and tenure in Africa)
ii. The Mystery of Capital, pp. 39-67
2. Land tenure issues in a conflict context
b. Reading:
i. Land, conflict and livelihoods in the Great Lakes Region: Testing
Policies to the Limit. Read entire document
3. Case studies, drawn from: Rwanda, Liberia, Angola, Afghanistan, East Timor,
Sierra Leone, Darfur, Mozambique, Uganda, Colombia
c. Readings:
i. Darfur - Environmental degradation as a cause of conflict in Darfur.
Read pages: 23-32, and 58-66
ii. Afghanistan – Land rights in crisis, restoring tenure security in
Afghanistan. Read pages 17-37
iii. Rwanda - Land reform, land scarcity and post conflict
reconstruction: A case study of Rwanda. Read entire document
iv. Liberia and Sierra Leone – To fight or to farm: agrarian dimensions
of the Mano River Conflcts (Liberia and Sierra Leone). Read entire
paper.
v.
vi. To be determined
4. In Class exercise: ‘Return to Land’
Oct 14: In-Class Midterm Exam I.
III. Broad Issues of Environment and Development (Oct 26 – Dec 2)
1. Armed Conflict and the Peace Process
a. Fundamentals of armed conflict, conflict types
i. Reading:
1. Environmental degradation and violent conflict: hypotheses,
research agendas, and theory building, pp. 76-112
b. The Peace Process
i. Readings:
i. From Conflict to Peacebuilding: The role of natural
resources and the environment. UNEP. Read entire
document.
ii. Letter dated 27 October 2009 from the Chairman of the
Security Council Committee established pursuant to
resolution 1591 (2005) addressed to the President of the
Security Council. UN Security Council. Read entire
document.
2. Climate Change, Environment and Development, Madagascar case study
a. Fundamentals of climate change and development
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i. Readings:
1. Climate Change, Resources, Migration: Securing Africa in
an Uncertain Climate. Read entire document
b. Madagascar case study
i. Readings:
1. Environmental change and adaptation in degraded agroecosystems: the case of highland Madagascar. Read entire
paper.
3. Food Security and Development, Ethiopia case study
a. Fundamentals of food security
i. Readings:
1. Food Security and the environment: concepts and
connections. pp. 6-26
2. Reading: Famine Early Warning System (FEWS)
http://www.fews.net/ Become familiar with the web page
b. Ethiopia case study:
4. AIDS and Land Tenure
a. Local society adjustments
i. Readings:
1. Demarcating Forest, Containing Disease: Land and
HIV/AIDS in Southern Zambia. Read entire paper
Nov 16. In-class Midterm Exam II
5. Deforestation and land rights
a. Reception of rights and perception of rights
i. Readings:
1. Migrant land rights reception and ‘clearing to claim’ in subSaharan Africa: A deforestation example from southern
Zambia. Read entire paper.
6. Poverty and Development
a. The UN perspective
i. Readings:
1. Land tenure, economic growth and poverty in sub-Saharan
Africa. Read entire paper
7. Land degradation and desertification
a. Old and new perspectives
i. Readings:
1. Eroded consensus: donors and the dilemmas of degradation
in Kodoa, Central Tanzania, pp. 243-267
8. Wildlife Conservation
a. Wildlife as commodities and political power
i. Readings:
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1. Politics, Institutions, and Animals: Explaining the Content,
Continuity, and Change of African Wildlife Policy, pp. 1-18
2. History Matters: Institutional Change and CBNRM in Sanga
District, Northern Mozambique
Dec 2, No Class, use for working on term papers
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