Power, Justice and (De)coloniality in Development

Power, Justice and (De)coloniality in Development 

7,5 credits, Uppsala University

General Information 

The course was established by the Department of Government at Uppsala University on 20 March 2023 and the syllabus was approved by the board 31 May 2023. The course is run online and offered as a freestanding course at Department of Government at Uppsala University. It is part of the Development Research School in Sustainable Development, hosted by the Department of Political Science, Lund University. The school and course are aimed at doctoral students interested in sustainable development research and the governance of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The course offers deep and up-to-date specialist knowledge in a limited area of political science, notably development studies, a goal also articulated in the General Curriculum for the PhD Program in the Department of Government, Uppsala University. It consists of online lectures and seminars with discussions and presentations. Seminars and workshops require preparations and active participation of course participants. Such preparations will be both individual and group-based. The language of instruction is English.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, the student will be able to: 

Knowledge and understanding:

• describe various approaches to power in development and contemporary debates and trends connected to power dynamics and climate justice in the global development landscape. 

Skills and abilities: 

• Identify and apply various approaches to power in sustainable development and show an awareness of limitations attached to different perspectives 
• Identify and critically discuss various perspectives in the debates on changes in the global development landscape and climate justice 

Judgement and approach: 

• Independently and in a reflexive manner analyse and assess calls towards climate justice and decolonizing development politics and studies, showing an ability to identify various dilemmas.

Assessment 

All lectures and seminars are mandatory. Absence from more than two lectures/seminars needs to be compensated for by a supplementary written assignment. The course is examined based on active participation at the seminars, through oral presentations and written assignments. All written assignments must be in English. The grades awarded are Pass or Fail. To receive a Pass the doctoral student must fulfil the learning outcomes of the course. At the beginning of the course, students will be informed about the learning outcomes stated in the syllabus as well as the grading scale and how it is applied at the course.

Schedule and Literature List

All teaching takes place online (Zoom). All hours are CET. The readings may be subject to slight revision, which will communicated in due course.

A more comprehensive course guide, including assignments and seminar instructions, will be made available before the start of the course.

Part 1. Theoretical and conceptual overview of political, economic, and discursive dimensions of power in relation to development and (de)coloniality

Lecture 1: Power: a multidimensional concept
Tuesday 5 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer: Anders Sjögren

Readings:

• Allen, Amy (2022) Feminist Perspectives on Power. In Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.) The Stanford
• Haugaard, Mark (2006) Power. In Austin Harrington, Barbara L. Marshall, and Hans-Peter Müller (eds.) Encyclopedia of Social Theory, London: Routledge, 457-462 
• Jessop, Bob (2012) Marxist approaches to power. In Edwin Amenta, Kate Nash, and Alan Scott (eds.) The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology, First Edition, London: Blackwell. 3-14. 

Lecture 2: Colonial and post-colonial power and/in development
Thursday 7 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer: Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Readings:

• Albrecht, Monika. (2020). “Postcolonialism cross-examined,” in Multidirectional Perspectives on Imperial and Colonial Pasts and the Neocolonial Present (London: Routledge)
• Go, Julian (2013) “For a postcolonial sociology” Theory and Society 42: 25-55.
• Loomba, Ania (2002) Colonialism/postcolonialism. London Routledge (Chapter 1, pp.1-41)

Seminar 1: (Post)coloniality, power and development
Tuesday 12 November, 1pm-4pm

Seminar teachers: Anders Sjögren and Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Part 2. Calls for decolonizing development policy and practice, including the decolonization of the discipline of development studies

Lecture 3: Historical and contemporary calls for decolonizing development politics and practice
Friday 15 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Readings:

• Grosfoguel, Ramón. (2013). The Structure of Knowledge in Westernised Universities: Epistemic Racism/Sexism and the Four Genocides/Epistemicides. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-knowledge 1, no. 1: 73–90
• Kapoor, I. (2023). Decolonising Development Studies. Review of International Studies, 49(3), 346-355
• Patel, K. (2020). Race and a decolonial turn in development studies. Third World Quarterly, 41(9), 1463-1475

Lecture 4: Post-coloniality and de-coloniality
Tuesday 19 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer: Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Readings:

• Asher, K., and Ramamurthy, P. (2020). Rethinking decolonial and postcolonial knowledges beyond regions to imagine transnational solidarity. Hypatia 35, 542–547.
• Ballestrin, Luciana. "Postcolonial and decolonial subaltern feminisms." Postcolonial Studies 25.1 (2022): 108-127.
• Colpani, Gianmaria, Jamila MH Mascat, and Katrine Smiet. "Postcolonial responses to decolonial interventions." Postcolonial Studies 25.1 (2022): 1-16

Lecture 5: The concept of climate justice from a North/South perspective
Friday 22 November, 10am-12am

Lecturer: Seema Arora-Jonsson

Readings:

• Arora-Jonsson, Seema (2018). “Across the Development Divide: A North–South Perspective on Environmental Democracy”, in Marsden, Terry (ed.) The SAGE Handbook on Nature. 737-760.
• Arora-Jonsson, Seema (2019). Indigeneity and climate justice in northern Sweden, in Bhavnani, Kum-Kum, Foran, John, Kurian, Priya A., and Munshi, Debanish (eds.) Climate Futures. Re-imagining global climate justice. 82-91.
• Arora-Jonsson, Seema, and Wahlström, Nora, 2023, ”Unraveling the production of ignorance in climate policymaking: The imperative of a decolonial feminist intervention for transformation”, Environmental Science and Policy, 149
• Arora-Jonsson, Seema, Westholm, Lisa, Pettit, Andrea, and Temu, Beatus John (2015) “Carbon and Cash in Climate Assemblages: The Making of a New Global Citizenship”, Antipode 48(1): 74-96.

Lecture 6: Decolonizing development research and teaching: what, how and by whom?
Tuesday 26 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer: Eyob Gebremariam

Readings:

• Aboderin, Isabella, Fuh, Divine, Gebremariam, Eyob Balcha and Segalo, Puleng (2023). “Beyond ‘equitable partnerships’: the imperative of transformative research collaborations with Africa”, Global Social Challenges Journal, https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2023D000000002
• Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J., (2018) Nomenclature of Decolonization. In Epistemic Freedom in Africa, 43-69
• Santos, B.D.S., (2013) The World Social Forum as Epistemology of the South in Santos, B.D.S The rise of the global left: The world social forum and beyond. Zed Books Ltd, 13-34.

Lecture 7: Decolonizing development research and teaching: what, how and by whom?
Thursday 28 November, 1 pm-3pm

Lecturer: Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Readings: a selection of articles from among those listed below; which ones will be communicated later

• Mwambari, D. (2021). Can online platforms Be e-pana-africana liberation zones for pan-african and decolonization debates?. Codesria Bulletin, 5, 5.
• Mwambari, D. (2019). Local positionality in the production of knowledge in Northern Uganda. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406919864845.
• Pailey, R.N., (2020). De‐centring the ‘White Gaze’ of Development. Development and Change, 51(3), 729-745.
• Rutazibwa, Olivia Umurerwa (2019), “What’s There to Mourn? Decolonial Reflections on (the End of) Liberal Humanitarianism.”, Journal of Humanitarian Affairs 1(1): 65-67.

Seminar 2: (Post)coloniality, de-coloniality and development
Tuesday 3 December, 1pm-4pm

Seminar teachers: Anders Sjögren

Seminar 3: Oral presentations 
Tuesday 10 December, 1pm-4pm

Seminar teachers: Suruchi Thapar-Björkert