Unit Leader : Phil Marfleet
Credit Weighting : 20
Level: 1
Teaching Format : 4 hours a week: lectures, Seminars and tutorials
Pre-requisite : None
Excluded Combinations : None
Co-requisite : None
Recommended Prior Study : None
Aims
To explore the emergence of the Third World since the end of the Second
World War, and to examine theoretically the consequent issues confronting
post-colonial states and societies.
After completing the unit students should
(i) be familiar with the recent historical determinants of the Third World.
(ii) possess a thematic understanding of the issues confronting the
contemporary Third World.
(iii) think analytically about the determinants which constitute the
contemporary Third World.
(iv) understand the vast social and cultural variations which comprise the
"Third World" and be able to think openly and critically about the
designation itself.
(v) appreciate the agency of Third World societies in the shaping of their
own destinies.
(vi) gain some sense of the complex cultural traffic between centre and
periphery, allowing all students to position themselves in the
explorations undertaken in the unit.
(vii) have a basic understanding of the social science concepts necessary
for the study of Part II Third World Studies.
Content
(i) Introduction: The making of the Third World
Decolonization and the arrival of the "Third World"; the optimism of
liberation and Third Worldism.
Bandung and the alliance against "White hegemony". Nasser,
Nkrumah, Nehru, Castro.
Alternatives to capitalism; possibilities for development (China;
Vietnam)
(ii) The Contemporary Third World
a) First World Images? d) Social Divisions
Famine and death The Countryside
War & disease The City
The International Division
of Labour
The Post-colonial state
b) External Structures e) Cultural Issues
International Debt Westernization or cultural
The IMF imperialism?
Trade inequalities Popular culture and
mass media
Education
c) Internal Structures f) Explanations
Population Modernisation theories
Environment Theories of
Underdevelopment
Hunger & disease
Gender & development
(iii) Cultural Traffic
Case-studies from:
Popular conceptions of health
The Black diaspora: Pan-Africanism, Garveyism, Rastafarianism
Islam in the Metropolis
Roots music in the postmodern world
Ecological future: what kind of alliances?
Assessment
Coursework (50%) One diagnostic exercise, (15%)
One 1,500-2,000 word essay (35%)
Exam (50%) One 3-hour paper; minimum pass mark 30%
Indicative Readings
Harrison, P. (1993) Inside The Third World (Penguin)
* Webster, A. (1990) Sociology of Development (Macmillan) (2nd Edition)
Todaro, M. (1994) Economic Development in the Third World
(Longman) (4th Edition)
* Allen, T &
Thomas, A. (1992) Poverty & Development in the 1990s (OUP)
* - books for purchase