INTD 497-01: Rural development and food security
Winter 2013 Syllabus
Instructor: Karen McAllister
Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), McGill University
Email: karen.mcallister@mcgill.ca
Office phone: (514)398-7386
Time of class: Tuesdays, 4-7:00 PM
Class location: STBIO S3/4
Office location: Room 210, Peterson Hall, McTavish Street
Office hours: Tuesdays, 12:30-2:30
Course description:
This course will cover issues related to rural development and food security. Topics that will be
covered include the basis of peasant decision-making and rural livelihoods, property rights and
agrarian transitions (particularly in response to commercialisation of subsistence agriculture, as
well as contemporary land enclosures and displacements from the development of agroindustries or conservation projects), the knowledge and assumptions that underlie rural
development projects and land reform, and issues of poverty, vulnerability and famine. The
course will end with a focus on applied rural development projects, taking a look at participatory
research and farmer-researcher partnerships. This course is intended to build critical research
and presentation skills, and students are encouraged to follow their specific interests and may
write research papers about countries and issues relevant to the theme of the course but not
specifically covered in the course readings. Seminars will be supplemented by films and guest
lectures when this is appropriate.
This is a 400 level seminar class intended for final year IDS students. The class will be run like
a graduate seminar, and will require active student participation. Students will be expected to
come prepared with discussion questions and comments on the class readings, and to take turns
giving a brief introduction to each reading.
Grade Distribution and Assessment:
Class Participation: 20% (based on class attendance, in-class informal presentations, and
attendance at one session of the ISID conference in March)
Mid-term assignment: 15%
Final term paper: 50% (45% for paper, and 5% for abstract/proposal and reference list)
Final presentation: 15%
Participation: The class will require active student participation. Students are expected to have
completed the readings prior to class, and to come prepared with discussion questions. Students
will be expected to take turns summarising the key points of the readings each week and helping
facilitate the discussions. Seminars will be supplemented with guest lectures and films when
appropriate.
ISID March Conference: On March 21 and 22, the Institute for the Study of
International Development is organizing a conference on The Challenge of
Developing Countries from the Bottom Up. There will be one session taking place on
Thursday March 21st (16:00-18:00) and four sessions on Friday March 22nd (9:0010:45, 11.15-13:00, 14:00-15:45, and 16:00-17:45). Attendance to any session of the
conference will earn students extra credit (2.5%) that will count toward their
participation grade. Please note that participation is never to exceed the 20%
established for the course. At the conference there will be a sign up sheet at each
session. Students should put their name, student ID, and signature. Needless to say,
students leaving early from a session will not receive the extra credit.
Mid-term assignment: The mid-term assignment is a short analytical paper (4-5 pages doublespaced) that is based on one week’s set of readings – the choice of which week is up to the
student. This assignment is not a summary, but an analytical comparison and critique of the
perspectives of the different articles which focuses on some central issue that the articles address.
These are due one week after the set of class readings. Final day to pass these in is March 26.
Any set of readings can be chosen except for the class on the IUARP project and participatory
development projects.
Final term paper: This is a research paper of between 13-15 pages double-spaced. The paper
should address some issue related to rural development and food security. The choice of topic
will depend on the specific interest of the student, and can focus on issues or countries that have
not been covered in the class. However the paper topic should be approved in advance with the
instructor, and a one page abstract/paper proposal plus a preliminary reference list (10-15
references) will be due on February 19. The final paper will be due on April 17.
Late papers and assignments will be penalised one half-grade per day (e.g. a paper that is one
day late would go from an A to A-).
Mini-conference: The last 3 classes of the semester will take the form of a mini-conference in
which each student will give a 10 minute presentation of their term paper topic. Paper
presentations will be organised into panels of similar topics, and time will be given for questions
and discussion.
Statement on Academic Integrity:
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 www.mcgill.ca/integrity
for more information).
In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the
right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded.
Course materials:
The following book will be available for purchase at Paragraph bookstore:
Hall, D., P. Hirsch, et al. (2011). Powers of exclusion: land dilemmas in Southeast Asia.
Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press.
A course pack of required readings will be available at the McGill Bookstore.
Journal articles are available electronically through the McGill library, and links to articles and
electronic books will be posted on webCT. The readings listed as optional in the syllabus are not
necessarily posted on webCT and will not be discussed in the seminars, but students who are
writing papers on related topics and want further reading material might find these articles useful.
Class schedule and reading list:
DATE
Jan 8
Jan 15
Jan 22
Jan 29
Feb 5
Feb 12
Feb 19
Feb 26
Mar 5
Mar 12
Mar 19
Mar 26
Apr 2
Apr 9
Apr 17
Class topic
Introduction
Peasant decision making and rural livelihoods
Food security, poverty and famine
Contested knowledge and environmental narratives
Participatory rural development: IUARP project
Scientific and local knowledge for rural development
Property, land tenure and land reform
Enclosures, dispossessions and displacements
STUDY BREAK! (no class)
Agrarian transitions and rural resistances
Gender issues in rural development
Student presentations.
Student presentations.
Student presentations.
Assignment deadline
Paper proposal due
Last day for critique
Term Paper due
January 8: Introduction
January 15: Peasant decision making and rural livelihoods
Ellis, F. (2000). A framework for livelihood analysis. Rural livelihoods in developing countries.
New York, Oxford University Press: 3-51. (Coursepack)
Popkin, S. L. (1979). The rational peasant: the political economy of rural society in Vietnam.
Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press. Pages1-31.
Scott, J. C. (1976). The moral economy of the peasant: subsistence and rebellion in Southeast
Asia. New Haven, Yale University Press. Introduction, pp 1-12; chapters 1 and 2.
Other readings of interest on this topic (optional):
Scoones, I. (2009). "Livelihoods perspectives and rural development." The Journal of Peasant
Studies 36(1): 171-196. (webCT)
Bebbington , A. (1999). "Capitals and capabilities: a framework for analysing peasant viability,
rural livelihoods and poverty." World Development 27(12): 2012-44.
Scoones, I. (1998). "Sustainable rural livelihoods: a framework for analysis." IDS Working paper
72.
Leach, M., R. Mearns, et al. (1999). "Environmental Entitlements: Dynamics and Institutions in
Community-Based Natural Resource Management." World Development 27(2): 225-247.
(WebCT)
Ellis, F. (1993). Peasant economics: farm households and agrarian development. Cambridge
University Press, New York. Chapter 1: pp 3-16, Chapter 3, pp 45-60
Scott, J. C. (1976). The moral economy of the peasant: subsistence and rebellion in Southeast
Asia. New Haven, Yale University Press. Chapt er 6. 157-192
January 22: Food security, poverty and famines
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. New York, Anchor Press. Chapter 7. Famines and
other crisis. Pp. 160-188 (coursepack)
Stock, R. (2004). Africa south of the Sahara: a geographical interpretation. Chapter 15. Food
Security. New York, The Guildford Press. Pp. 224-238. (coursepack)
de Waal, A. (1991). "A Re-assessment of Entitlement Theory in the Light of Recent Famines in
Africa." Development and Change 21(3): 469–90.
Devereux, S. (2009). "Why does famine persist in Africa." Food security 1(25-35).
Optional:
Devereux, S. (2000). "Famine in the 20th Century." IDS Working paper 107: 1-40.
University Press. (web CT)
Sen, A. (1981). Poverty and famines: an essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford, Oxford
(Classic reading on famines)
Buchanan-Smith, M., S. Davies, et al. (1994). "Food security: let them eat information." IDS
Bulletin 25(2): 1-16. (On early warning systems)
Swift, J. (1993). "Understanding and preventing famine and famine mortality." IDS Bulletin 24(4)
January 29: Contested knowledge: Environmental narratives and rural development
projects
Forsyth, T. and A. Walker (2008). Forest guardians, forest destroyers: the politics of
environmental knowledge in northern Thailand. Seattle, University of Washington Press.
Chapter 1. Environmental crisis and the crisis of knowledge. Pp. 3-26; Chapter 4. Forests
and water. P 87-116; Chapter 9. pp. Rethinking environmental knowledge. Pp. 226-246.
Leach, M.; Mearns, R. (1996) The lie of the land: challenging received wisdom on the African
environment. M. Leach and R. Mearns. Oxford, James Currey. Chapter 1.
Swift, J. (1996). Desertification: narratives, winners, losers. The lie of the land: challenging
received wisdom on the African environment. M. Leach and R. Mearns. Oxford, James
Currey: 79-90.
Optional:
Goldman, M. (2001). "Constructing an environmental state: eco-governmentality and other transnational practices of a 'green' World Bank." Social Problems 48(4): 499-523.
February 5: Participatory rural development: The Integrated Upland Agriculture
Research Project (IUARP)
Selection of original documents and reports from the Integrated Upland Agricultural Research
Project (IUARP), a development project that involved ethnic minorities in upland Laos. IUARP
will be used to provide an example of how similar projects are designed and implemented, and
analysed and critiqued according to what has been learned in earlier course materials. These will
be available on webCT.
Mosse, D. (2001). People's knowledge', participation and patronage: operations and
representations in rural development. Participation: the new tyranny? B. Cooke and U.
Kothari. Zed Books: 16-35. (Coursepack)
Goebel, A. (1998). "Process, perception and power: notes from 'participatory' research in a
Zimbabwean resettlement area." Development and Change 29(2): 277-305. (webCT)
Optional:
Chambers, R. (1994). "The origins and practice of participatory rural appraisal." World
Development 22(7): 953-969. (WebCT)
Cornwall, A. (2002). "Making spaces, changing places: situating participation in development."
IDS Working paper 170
Cornwall, A. (2003). "Whose Voices? Whose Choices? Reflections on Gender and Participatory
Development." World Development 31(8): 1325-1342.
February 12: Scientific and local knowledge
Agrawal, A. (1995). "Dismantling the divide between indigenous and scientific knowledge."
Development and Change 26(3): 413-439. (webCT)
Thrupp, L. A. (2000). "Linking Agricultural Biodiversity and Food Security: The Valuable Role
of Sustainable Agriculture." International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs
1944-) 76(2): 265-281. (webCT)
Parayil, G. (2003). "Mapping technological trajectories of the green revolution and the gene
revolution from modernization to globalization." Research Policy 32: 971-990.
Optional:
Altieri, M. A. (2002). "Agroecology: the science of natural resource management for poor
farmers in marginal environments." Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 93: 1-24.
Ashby, J. A. and L. Sperling (1995). "Institutionalizing Participatory, Client-Driven Research
and Technology Development in Agriculture." Development and Change 26: 753-770.
Bebbington , A. (1993). "Modernization from below: an alternative indigenous development?"
Economic Geography 69(3): 274-292.
Sillitoe, P. (1998). "What know the natives? Local knowledge in development." Social
Anthropology 2: 203-220.
February 19: Property rights, land tenure and land reform.
Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition
have failed. New Haven, Yale University Press. Introduction. Pp. 1-8 (available as eBook
on webCT)
Bruce, J. (1993). Do indigenous tenure systems constrain agricultural development? Land in
African agrarian systems. T. J. Bassett and D. E. Crummey. Wisconsin, University of
Wisconsin Press: 25-56. (Coursepack)
Maxwell, D. and K. D. Wiebe (1999). "Land tenure and food security: exploring dynamic
linkages." Development and Change 30: 825-849. (webCT)
Hall, D., P. Hirsch, et al. (2011). Powers of exclusion: land dilemmas in Southeast Asia.
Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press. Chapter 2. Licensed exclusions: land titling,
reform and allocation. (Textbook)
Optional:
Vandergeest, P. (2003). "Land to some tillers: development-induced displacement in Laos."
UNESCO 2003: 47-56. (webCT)
Lestrelin, G. and M. Giordano (2007). "Upland development policy, livelihood change and land
degradation: interactions from a Laotian village." Land degradation and development 18:
55-76.
February 26: Enclosures, displacements and trans-national land grabbing:
Hall, D., P. Hirsch, et al. (2011). Powers of exclusion: land dilemmas in Southeast Asia.
Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press. Chapter 1, 3, 4 and 6. (Textbook)
Journal article on land-grabs (TBA)
Optional:
Barney, K. (2008). China and the production of forestlands in Lao PDR: a political ecology of
trans-national enclosure. Taking Southeast Asia to market: commodities, nature, and
people in the neo-liberal age. J. Nevins and N. L. Peluso. Ithaca, Cornell University Press:
91-107. (In course pack)
March 12: Agrarian transformations and rural resistance
Scott, J. C. (1986). Everyday forms of peasant resistance. Everyday forms of peasant resistance
in South-east Asia. J. C. Scott and B. J. T. Kerkvliet. London and New York, Routledge:
5-35. (Coursepack)
Polanyi, K. (1962 [1944]). The great transformation: the political and economic origins of our
time. Boston, Beacon Press. Pp. 68-76 (Coursepack)
Hall, D., P. Hirsch, et al. (2011). Powers of exclusion: land dilemmas in Southeast Asia.
Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press. Chapter 7 (Textbook)
Desmarais, A. A. (2008). "The power of peasants: reflections on the meanings of La Via
Campesina." Journal of rural studies 24. (webCT)
Optional:
Li, T. M. (2000). "Articulating indigenous identity in Indonesia: resource politics and the tribal
slot." Comparative studies in society and history 42: 149-97. (webCT)
March 19: Gender issues in rural development
Rocheleau, D. and D. Edmunds (1997). "Women, men and trees: Gender, power and property in
forest and agrarian landscapes." World Development 25(8): 1351-1371. (webCT)
(Other readings TBA)
March 26: Student mini-conference
April 2: Student mini-conference
April 9: Student mini-conference