Course Syllabi — Eliana Abu-Hamdi, PhD

A Critical Review of Cities in the Developing World

Course Description: This course will introduce students to the study of the cultural and political production of cities through a series of compelling case studies. The Euro-American greats will certainly be represented here, introduced in the first part of the course so that we may establish an understanding of what areis today most often considered to beas an example of developed or first -world cities. Quite intentionally, the course will then shift to pursue a discovery and critique of the cities of the developing world or third world. This critique will focus on how not only on the city was made and what impacts its formation has sinceitself but also the very dichotomy between developed and developing cities, all in the intention of destabilizing the distinction between first and third worlds. had locally, regionally and internationally.

The course will be broken up into seven eras of study. Together, each era, in concert with its case study, will provide a comprehensive view of development from the 20th-21st centuries across main regions of the developing world. The seven eras are:

· The Era of Empire and Conquest (France & Spain)

· The Colonial Era & the Rise of Capitalism (Paris, Cairo & Algiers)

· The Rise of the Nation State (Brasilia)

· Oil Riches in the Middle East and the Rise of a Region

· The Collapse of the Welfare state (New Orleans)

· The Neoliberal Era and the World Economic Network

· Globalization (Dubai, a Global City?)

While we study each of these eras, we will ask the simple question: what defines a city as developing or underdeveloped? We will also consider the idea that cities are often categorized in opposing camps, designated as either developed or underdeveloped. Throughout this course, we will acquire the critical tools necessary to question not only why these two categories of cities exist, but go further to discover how this designation came to be, and why it persists. Our goal, by the end of the course is to have a critical understanding and thorough engagement with the discourse of development and the ability to critique the prevalent binary of developed versus underdeveloped cities that exist within it. Further, we will be able to fully engage with the complexities of the modern era, the globalized world, and the theoriesy of globalization. We will not only learn the history of place, but, also go further to engage with issues related to the political economy of cities, particularly those entrenched within the privatized systems of the neoliberal era.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand: Students will become familiar with a chronological history of the cities of the developing world through various historical and theoretical lenses.

2. Critique: This will serve as anA rooted familiarity with the underlying constructs of developing cities will serve as a basis through which students will for further critique and interrogate ion ofthe larger conceptual issues related to development.

3. Create: Students will be able to contribute to the discourse of development through an the analytical study of a developing city of their choice. sisEach student will conduct a semester long study of their chosen city. We, as a class, will group and analyze these of their chosen developing city for study. All of these individual studies to s, grouped and analyzed, will generate foundational research as related to developing cities of the modern era and the theoretical concept of globalization.

Types of Knowledge: This goal of this course is to provide and foster knowledge at various levels, as outlined in the following learning goals, tools for assessment, and course activities.

Factual:

· Students will become familiar with the basic chronology of the history of cities, particularly in the developing world.

· Students will be able to define the eras of political economy and engage in a discussion of their impact on various cities of the developing world.

Conceptual:

· Students will be able to define, in both basic and complex terms, the difference between the binary of developed world versus underdeveloped world, how these designations came about, and how they have evolved.

· The students will be able to engage in a thoughtful and provocative discussion of the global era and apply the theoriesy of globalization to developing cities and discuss its their subsequent impacts.

Procedural:

· Students will be able to synthesize a course concept (dependency, IMF Loans & austerity plans, foreign aid, the nation state, etc.) as it applies to their into an on a specific region or city.

· Students will be able to interrogate the impact of first-world interventions on the development potential of under-developed cities. Further, the student will be able to thoughtfully generate an informed opinion through case studies to analyze if first-world interventions are successful and provide evidence as to why and how.

Metacognitive[JT1] (knowing how we know):

· Students will be provided with a breadth of knowledge and a diversity in opinion on issues related to the developing world and the role of developed nations. This is an exercise in critical thinking, but also a political and ethical debate.

· Students will be expected to answer the complex and nuanced question of “what is the responsibility of the millennial citizen in today’s developing world?”

Course Requirements:

The first two requirements are incorporated into this course for the primary reason of promoting collaborative learning. Together we will unpack the complexities of world history. We will understand, critique, and create knowledge about developing regions throughout the world. We will learn from one another and be motivated by one another. The hope here is to create a venue for education and discovery of common interests and pursuits.

1. Write your city’s history (weekly blog post & term paper): This assignment consists of a semester-long historical analysis of a developing city of your choice. Your weekly contribution will be in the format of a blog entry. As mentioned above, this course will pursue the study of cities as a historical chronology of seven eras. Therefore, the expectation for this weekly post is for each student to write the history of his or her chosen city in the corresponding time period as the historical era being discussed in lecture that week. Lecture will present what was happening in the world in more general terms, your post will tell us what was happening in your city.

The goal of this assignment is three fold:

· First, you will provide a one-sentence summary of your weekly post; consider it to be your “headline”. This headline ought to inform us of the most significant issue/event happening in each historical period. This headline will be posted on the class website as a we will assemble the individual histories written by each student into one collective history of each world region. Assembling this historical information onto one timeline will provide us the ability to track the trends and variances within the developing world, over time.

· Second, we will generate these histories in parallel, and everyone in the course will have access to the others blog site. In sharing this information, we will be able to see and analyze the complexities within each case study, and further, extract how, when, and if any of these histories actually coincide.

· Third, we will use our analysis of our collective timeline to decipher whether or not we have the ability to disrupt the established discourse on development, and use this learned knowledge and body of critique to help us and make sense of the widening and narrowing gaps in development in the 21st century.

This blog will directly inform your final paper for the course. The purpose of this paper is to put into practice the analytical tools you have cultivated throughout the semester. You will first choose a critical lens for your city, and second, synthesize its history through that lens so that you are able to make a theoretical claim in relation to the historical data you have collected in your bog.

Consider your weekly posts as the body, or evidence, of your paper. Your final synthesis will inform the introduction, conclusion, and theoretical narrative that will flow throughout the paper.

2. Weekly current event presentation: Keeping up with international news is an important part of this course. All students are expected to subscribe to The New York Times or The Economist. Everyone will be responsible for presenting an article on some major EVENT or development in international news from one of these sources into our weekly section meetings; the article should reference in some way, theoretically or otherwise, your main case study. In your 10 minute current events presentation, you will be asked to do four things:

· Tell us as succinctly as possible what we need to know to understand the event (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?);

· Explain how it relates to the readings and themes of the week and the course as a whole;

· Explain how it relates/informs your case study and clarify the relevance of your critique;

· Pose a question to help begin discussion;

3. Midterm Video presentation: Inevitably, students may choose to study the same city, or at the very least, the same region. You will, as such, be grouped by region for this team project. Each team will produce an 8-10 minute creative depiction of their city’s history, up to this point in our study. It is up to each team how they choose to visually represent this history. You may consider play-acting a particular scenario, writing a comedy sketch, or using alternative media, such as narrating an artistic depiction. It is up to each group to choose their moment in history and their method of representation. Keep in mind however, you will be expected to thoughtfully reference and analytically incorporate the theories of this course. Be prepared to pose a question to the class about your presentation to help begin discussion.

1. Weekly current event presentation: Keeping up with international news is an important part of this course. All students are expected to subscribe to The New York Times or The Economist. Everyone will be responsible for presenting an article on some major EVENT or development in international news from one of these sources into our weekly section meetings; the article should concern in some way, theoretically or otherwise, your main case study. In your 10 minute current events presentation, you will be asked to do three things:

· Tell us as succinctly as possible what we need to know to understand the event (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?);

· Explain how it relates to the readings and themes of the week and the course as a whole;

· Explain how it relates/informs your case study and clarify the relevance of your critique;

· Pose a question to help begin discussion;

Course Logistics: The following two requirements are those that you ought to meet in order to make the first two three requirements successful and rewarding.

4. Attendance: The intention for this course is to create an interactive and collaborative learning environment. We all have our own unique ways of learning and contributing, so, in this classroom, all approaches will be considered. I encourage each person to pursue, for themselves, the best mechanism and incentive for learning in this course.

5. Participation: Discussion of others’ ideas is certainly a valid and rewarding mechanism for learning, but this course also encourages participation and contribution in other, less conventional ways. For example, your blog is can be your voice, use it well!

Required Reading:

The Era of Empire and Conquest

Week 1 & 2

· David Harvey. 2003., Paris: Capital of Modernity. New York: Routledge, 2003. [Choose chapters]

· Marshall Berman. 1982., All That Is Solid Melts into Air: the Experience of Modernity. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982. [Choose chapters] – Julia thinks this is a nice match with Harvey’s book on Paris

· Bernal-Diaz. 1963., The Conquest of New Spain. Penguin Books: 1963. [Choose chapters]

· Carl Schorske. 1981. Teresa had us read the early chapters of Fin de Siecle Vienna , Chapters 1 & 2. (Schorske)

The Colonial Era & the Rise of Capitalism

Week 3 & 4

· Paul Rabinow. 1995. French Mmodern: Nnorms and Fforms of the Ssocial Eenvironment. University of Chicago Press, 1995. [Choose chapters]

· Karl Marx. 1847., Wage, Labour and Capital. 1847.

· Paul Sweezy. 2009. “Modern Capitalism” and & “On the Theory of Monopoly Capitalism” in Modern Capitalism and Other Essays. .2009.

· Nezar Alsayyad, ed. 1992. “Urbanism and the Dominance Equation: reflections on colonialism and national identity; The Islamic city as a colonial enterprise” & “Colonialism, modernity: The French in Morocco by Paul Rabinow” & “Le Corbusier and Algiers: the Plan Obus as Colonial Urbanism” by Michele Lamprakos in Forms of Dominance.

· Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, Chapter 1: Egypt at the Exhibition, p. 1-10, & Chapter 3: The Appearance of Order, p. 63-93. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

· JJanet Abu Lughod, “ on the Tale of Two Cities: (Tthe Oorigins of Mmodern Cairo”, Comparative Studies in Society and History, July 1965, p. 429-457

· )

Colonising Egypt

The Rise of the Nation State

Week 5 & 6

· Benedict Anderson. 2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verson: 2006. [Choose chapters]

· Selected chapters (I think earlier ones) in James Holston’s Modernist City talk about the importance of Brasilia in making Brazil into a modern nationJames Holston. 1989. “Premises and Paradoxes” in The Modernist City.

· Lawrence J. Vale, Architecture, Power, and National Identity. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992. [Choose chapters]

· Marshall Berman, All That Is Solid Melts into Air: the Experience of Modernity. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982. [Choose chapters]

· Ella Shohat. 1992., “Notes on the ‘Post-Colonial’” Text, No. 31/32, Third World and Post-Colonial Issues, (1992), pp. 99-113

· Ernest Burgess. 1925. “The Growth of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project”, in The City. Do you want anything on the Chicago School here?

Oil Riches in the Middle East and the Rise of a Region

Week 7 & 8

Present & view midterm videos in lecture

· Timothy Mitchell. 2011. Introduction & Chapters 1, 3, 5, & 7 in Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil., Introduction, Chapters 1, 3, 5, & 7.

· Leonardo Maugeri, “Not in Oil's Name”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 82, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 2003), pp. 165-174.

· Euclid A. Rose, “OPEC's Dominance of the Global Oil Market: The Rise of the World's Dependency on Oil.” Middle East Journal, Vol. 58, No. 3 (Summer, 2004), pp. 424-443

· Elsheshtawi, Yasser Elsheshtawy. 2004. “The Middle East City: Moving Beyond the Narrative of Loss” & “Redrawing Boundaries: Dubai, an Emerging Global City” in Planning Middle Eastern Cities: Aan Uurban Kkaleidoscope in a Gglobalizing Wworld. “The Middle East City: Moving Beyond the Narrative of Loss” Chap. 1 and “Redrawing Boundaries: Dubai, an Emerging Global City” Chap. 6. New York: Routledge. 2004.

The Collapse of the Welfare state

Week 9 & 10

· Immanuel Wallerstein “The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 16(4): 387-415. 1974

· Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Pages 3-12, 63-85. 1995.Friedrich VonHayek. 1944. Chapters 1-3, 7, 14 in The Road to Serfdom.

· Vincanne Adams, et al. 2009. “Chronic Disaster Syndrome: Displacement, Disaster Capitalism, and the Eviction of the Poor from New Orleans” American Ethnologist 36:4, p. 615-636.

· Vincanne Adams., 2012. “The Other Road to Serfdom: Recovery by the Market and the Affect Economy in New Orleans” Public Culture 24:1 p. 185-216.

· Abramovitz, M. 2001. “Everyone is Still on Welfare: The Role of Redistribution in Social Policy” Social Work 46:4, 297-308.

· Fraser, Nancy and Linda Gordon. 1994. “A Genealogy of ‘Dependency’: Tracing a Keyword of the US Welfare State” Signs 19:2, p. 309-336.

· What about Loic Wacquant. 2009.’s Punishing the Poor? “Welfare ‘Reform’ as Poor Discipline and Statecraft” in Punishing the Poor.Maybe that’s better in the neoliberal week

· Michael Katz? Ananya would have a good book

· Jamie Peck Genealogies of Neoliberalism – it’s also good on the decline of the welfare stateJamie Peck. 2004. “Geography and Public Policy: Constructions of Neoliberalism” Progress in Human Geography, 28: 3, p. 392-405

The Neoliberal Era and the World Economic Network

Week 11 & 12

· David Harvey. 2005. , A brief history of Neoliberalism. Oxford, England ; New York: Oxford University Press. 2005. [Choose chapters]

· Robinson, Jennifer. Ordinary cities: between modernity and development. London; New York: Routledge. 2006. [Choose chapters]

· Friedrich Hayek (1944) The Road to Serfdom, Chapters 1-3, 7, 14.

· Milton Friedman. (1962. Chapters 1–3, 5-6, 11 in ) Capitalism and Freedom, Chapters 1–3, 5-6, 11.

· Neil Smith. 1982. “Gentrification and Uneven Development Author” Economic Geography, 58: 2, p. 139-155.

· Naomi Klein. (2007.) Introduction & Chapter 14 in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism., Introduction, Chapter 14.

· Neil Smith on gentrification?

Globalization

Week 13 & 14

Final papers due

· Arturo Escobar. 1995., “Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World:, Pages 3: -12, p. 63-85. 1995.

· Yasser Elsheshtawy, Yasser. Dubai: Behind an Urban Spectacle 2010.. “Spectacular architecture and urbanism” & Chap. 6, “The spectacular and the everyday” Chap. 7, and& “Transient City” Chap. 8. London: Routledge, 2010.in Dubai: Behind an Urban Spectacle.

· Saskia Sassen. 2005. “The Global City: Introducing a Concept” Brown Journal of World Affairs, 11: 2, p. 27-43.

· Mike Davis. 2006. “Fear and money in Dubai” New Left Review, Vol. 41.

· Xuefei Ren. 2008. “Architecture as Branding: Mega-project Developments in Beijing” Built Environment, 34: 4, p. 517-531.

· Vincent Cable. 1995., “The Diminished Nation-State: A Study in the Loss of Economic Power”, Daedalus, Vol. 124:, No. 2, What Future for the State? (Spring, 1995), pp. 23-53.

· Anthony King, “Architecture, capital and the globalization of culture.” Theory, Culture & Society 7.2: 397. 1990.

· Kris Olds, Globalization and Urban Change: Capital, Culture, and Pacific Rim Mega-Projects. “Globalizing Networks, Globalizing Cities” Part 1, “The Social Construction of Global Flows” Part 3, and “Notes on Methodology” Appendix. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

· Xuefei Ren, “Architecture as branding: Mega-project developments in Beijing.” Built Environment, 34(4): 517-531. 2008.

· Teresa Caldeira, City of walls: Crime, segregation, and citizenship in São Paulo. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2000. [Choose chapters]

Film: Black Gold

Dani Rodrik (2011) The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy, Chapters 3, 9.

Naomi Klein (2007) The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Introduction, Chapter 14.

Benjamin Barber (1992) “Jihad vs. McWorld” in Atlantic Monthly, March.

Timothy Mitchell (2011) Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil, Chapter 8.

Grade Breakdown:

1. Weekly blog post (semester long project): 40%

2. Midterm video presentation: 20%

3. Final term paper: 25%

4. Attendance & Participation: 15%

Course policies:

Attendance & Tardiness: The goal for this course is to create an engaging learning environment and a classroom that you want to come to. If there is an occasion where you are unfortunately delayed, please make an effort to be quiet and courteous to your instructor and classmates when you enter the room. In the case of an absence, make arrangements to acquire notes from a classmate, as lecture material and lecture attendance is an integral component to success in this course.

Grade Disputes: All grade disputes should be submitted in writing to the instructor. Please wait three days after you have received your grade to consider the assessment and corresponding mark. If, after that time, you feel you would like to further discuss your grade, submit a request to the instructor.

Laptop Policy: To create an engaging environment in our class, the use of computers, phones, or any other electronic gadgets will not be allowed. Unfortunately these gadgets are often a cause for distraction for not only the student, but also their colleagues and instructor.

Late Assignments: Late submissions will not be accepted. If you do miss a deadline and have reasonable cause, please submit a written explanation to the instructor. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Other policies & student resources:

Student code of conduct: Academic dishonesty is any action or attempted action that may result in creating an unfair academic advantage for oneself or an unfair academic advantage or disadvantage for any other member or members of the academic community.

Plagiarism: "Plagiarism is defined as use of intellectual material produced by another person without acknowledging its source, for example:

Wholesale copying of passages from works of others into your homework, essay, term paper, or dissertation without acknowledgment.
Use of the views, opinions, or insights of another without acknowledgment.
Paraphrasing of another person's characteristic or original phraseology, metaphor, or other literary device without acknowledgment."

Citation & Sourcing: Please use the Chicago Style 16th edition for ALL citations.

Request for Disability Related Accommodations: If you require accommodation in the classroom, please notify the instructor as soon as possible.

[JT1]Personally, I don’t know what this word means…but maybe it’s just me!