Culture and Development: postcolonial perspectives

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor: Professor Karen Wells
• Assessment: a 3000-word reaction paper (30%) and a 5000-word essay (70%)

‘All that is solid melts into air.’ This famous phrase from the Communist Manifesto encapsulated the profound effect that industrialisation in modern Europe had on cultural practices and beliefs. Taking its cue from a Marxist perspective on the relationship between economic forms and cultural practices, products and representations, this module investigates the ways in which development literally changes the way the world looks and feels. It is a contribution to decolonising development; to understand and value the cultural and artistic practices of the countries that development actors and institutions aim to ‘develop’. Choose this module if you are interested in post-development, in anthropology, or in Marxism or generally interested in understanding the relationship between cultural change and economic change. It is particularly aimed at students who are interested in using arts practice (eg theatre, film, photography, fiction) in sustainable development. The module may also have visiting lectures from academics, artists and cultural producers. 

By the end of this module, you should possess:

• a critical understanding of key texts on material culture across the disciplines of anthropology and sociology
• an appreciation of the interdisciplinary character of development studies as a field of inquiry
• an understanding of the importance of symbolic exchange to everyday life and how this links to advocacy of, as well as resistance to, development.