[Last Update: August 21, 2008]
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URBS 350: CITIES OF THE THIRD WORLD
Room: SH 286
Instructor: Ashwani Vasishth
Office: ST 206
Office Hours: TR 2:00 – 3:o0 PM; or by appt.
E-mail: vasishth@csun.edu
Telephone: x-6137
Course website: http://www.csun.edu/~vasishth/URBS-350.html
NB: This course fulfills the requirements of an upper-division General Education course.
COURSE READER: Will be available at Northridge Copy Center, 9130B Reseda Blvd., for approximately $45:00. (818) 775-0255.
ON-LINE TEXTS:
Scientific American: Special Issue, September 2005
The Human Race Is At A Unique Turning Point. Will We Choose To Create the Best of All Possible Worlds?
State of the World 2008: Innovations for A Sustainable Economy
Worldwatch Institute
State of the World’s Cities 2006-2007: Millennium Development Goals and Urban Sustainability
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (HABITAT)
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND ORGANIZATION:
The “city,” and the “Third World.” The meaning of each expression shifts, depending on whether they are taken together or taken apart. Far from being any objective descriptions of reality, these terms are conceptual--socially constructed expressions of historical processes colliding with sometimes conflicting layers of contemporary cultural meaning, all encased in the protective cocoon of imagined futures.
Even so, in the case of “cities of the Third World,” the stereotypes spring readily to mind--indeed, too readily and far too well formed to be reliable. Because, when we look with our mind’s eye at “cities of the Third World,” what we see is highly contingent on perspective and on purpose. Why we look, and from where, determines hugely what we are able to see. Our descriptions depend also on our own histories, the cultural conceptions that shape what we consider worth noting, and on the conceptual tools we have acquired and so can bring to bear. And the usefulness of what we do see is highly sensitive to our ability to make rich and relevant descriptions. Where we stand, how we look, why we look, how we describe what we see, what we do with these descriptions.....these together determine what we take to be real. Then we come to place where we find there is a plurality to reality that will not be ignored.
This class aims to give students the tools with which to challenge and disassemble received stereotypes and too-universal generalizations of cities and of the Third World. We will trace the ideas and events which generate such images, and the contradictions often embedded unseen within them. We will probe the significance of the historical moment in shaping key conceptions--looking to understand how the apparently unthinkable came to be thought, and the seemingly thinkable was not. We will explore some of the social, cultural and political roots of our thinking about cities and urbanism, about development and progress, about evolutionary processes and the nature of change. And then perhaps, in speaking of the cities of the Third World and why they are this or that, we will appreciate the worth of Robert Kates assertion:
“Why? The short answer is, "We do not know";
the longer one begins, "We have theories."“
In the first part of the course we will look at ways of thinking about cities, and at ideas about the origin of cities and their role in human affairs. We will trace these conceptions of the city as they are reshaped in the crucible of industrialization, segmented and shaded by the forces of imperial colonization, and transfixed by hegemonic conceptions of development and modernization. Shaped by such an array of forces, the contemporary city in the Third World appears almost schizoid--now having to be dragged reluctantly from the mire of its past, now leaping ahead of us to tell the shape of our happening future.
Theories of development, and the concerns that came to challenge them, form the second part of the course. We will see how modernization, urban bias, dependency and world system theories of development each arise from a cultural matrix, one that systemically (rather than conspiratorially) predisposes them to obscure or ignore some important aspects of society. We will note how none of them, in themselves, is sufficient to face the challenges of poverty and need, of informal economies and spontaneous settlements, and the sometimes confrontational problematic of gender, environment and social equity. In the third part of the course we will look for the tendrils of an entrenched colonialism, still shaping and constraining the apparently contemporary processes of urbanization. We will note the illusory nature of liberation, democracy and self-determination in the face of a growing hegemony of supra-system forces such as multinational corporations, venture capital and transnational capital flows, as well as sub-system forces such as history, habit, and human psychology. And in closing, we will explore what some have called the post-modern urban condition, and test its implications for societies and cities of the Third World.
An important and integral undercurrent to our work deals with the use of reading, writing, and research as tools to grab what we do know in ways that let us shape what we don’t know. In a very real and meaning-filled sense, this course is far more about how we think and work, about how the world happens, and about how we think it does. And our task is far more about appreciating the instrumental nature of concepts such as truth and reality, science and sanctity. Learning to make explicit the ways in which metaphor and analogy shape, and have always shaped, societal constructions of what we believe in any given historical moment to be fact--this is perhaps what all savvy understanding rest upon.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:
There will be three major assignments, one in the form of a research paper (5-7 pages, minimum 5 citations, @ 20%of the total grade), one in the form of a mid-term paper (7-10 pages, minimum 7 citations, @20% of the total grade) and one final paper (10-15 pages, minimum 10 citations, @ 35% of the total grade). The first paper will involve a review of the Millennium Development Goals with an in-depth analysis of one or more of the goals. The mid-term paper will be based on any combination of the on-line course texts, and will involve the preparation of a research paper based on the topics chosen from the on-line texts. The subject matter of the final paper is open to negotiation, and I really would prefer that you use this course as a means to furthering your own academic or professional areas of interest within the context of the course. There will be three in-class essays in the form of pop-quizzes based on assigned readings (15% of the total grade). Informed participation and attendance are worth 10% of the grade.
All assignments (other than in-class work) are required to be typed, double-spaced, and in a standard font. Do not use colored inks. You are required to leave a 1.25 inch left and right margin. You are required to leave two spaces after every period. You are required to use informative sub-headings to structure your papers. Bibliographies, in APA style and with appropriate in-text citations, are required, for the three formal assignments. Each submission will carry your name, e-mail address, course number and the date at the top right-hand corner of the first page. Your submission will be stapled, once, at the top left-hand corner. Do not use any sort of binder strips or covers or decorative embellishment. Proof-read your work for typographical errors and spelling mistakes. This is not optional. Which means it is compulsory. Points will be deducted if all of these requirements are not met.
In general, you are strongly urged to make use of the course web-site, library and scholarly internet resources, in-class discussion, as well as office-hour meetings to further your interests. I have a vast storehouse of articles and reports, and really do enjoy helping you get better at doing research, so please feel free to come chat with me, explore ideas, discuss options and obstacles.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated under any circumstances. I will unhesitatingly fail you and put the case on record with the University in all cases. If you take three or more consecutive words from any other source (article, book, web site), you MUST put them in quotation marks, and provide a clear citation. You are required to familiarize yourselves with the University regulations at:
http://library.csun.edu/Research_Assistance/plagiarism.html
and at:
http://library.csun.edu/kdabbour/plagiarism.html
ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE:
Thursday, December 11, 2008: Final Paper Due
COURSE READING SCHEDULE
Pilger, John. 1991. “Information Is Power,” New Statesman & Society, v4n177 (Nov 15 1991): 10(2).
Zinn, Howard. Undated. “Columbus and Western Civilization,”
Chomsky, Noam. 1987/88. “Propaganda Systems: Orwell’s and Ours,” Propaganda Review, n1 (Winter 1987/88)
Kamarck, Andrew M. 1976. “Ch. 1: Introduction,” and “Ch. 2: The Tropics,” 3-21 in Andrew M. Kamarck, The Tropics and Economic Development: A Provocative Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations. Baltimore, London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, published for The World Bank.
Williams, Raymond. 1973. “The New Metropolis,” 279-288 in Raymond Williams, The Country and the City. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bhambhri, C.P. 1985. “Imperialism in India,” Social Scientist, v13n2. (Feb., 1985): 38-45.
Lipton, Michael. 1988 (1977). “Why Poor People Stay Poor: Urban Bias in World Development,” 40-51 in Josef Gugler (ed.), The Urbanization of the Third World. New York: Oxford University Press.
Alonso, William. 1980. “Five Bell Shapes in Development,” Papers of the Regional Science Association, v45 (1980): 5-16.
Sachs, Jeffrey. 1998. “International Economics: Unlocking the Mysteries of Globalization,” Foreign Policy, n110 (Spring 1998): 97-111.
Stiglitz, Joseph. 2003. “Dealing with Debt,” Harvard International Review. V25n1 (Spring 2003): 54(6).
First Research Paper Due: Thursday, September 25, 2008
Shrestha, Nanda. 1980. “The Third World City,” p. 39-58, in Truman A. Hartshorn (ed.), Interpreting the City. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Rabinovitch, Jonas & Josef Leitmann. 1996. "Urban Planning in Curitiba," Scientific American, v274n3 (Mar 1996): 46-53.
Macedo, Joseli. 2004. “City Profile: Curitiba,” Cities, v21n6 (2004): 537–549.
For Discussion On Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Ezurra, Exequiel & Marisa Mazari-Hiriart. 1996. “Are Megacities Viable? A Cautionary Tale from Mexico City,” Environment, vv38n1 (Jan/Feb 1996): 6(20).
Abhat, Divya & Shauna Dineen & Tamsyn Jones & Jim Motavalli & Rebecca Sanborn & Kate Slomkowski. 2005. “Cities of the Future: Today’s “Mega-cities” are Overcrowded and Environmentally Stressed,” E/The Environmental Magazine, v16n5 (September/October 2005).
Annotated Bibliographies for Mid-term Paper Due: Thursday, October 16, 2008
For Discussion On Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Lewis, Oscar. 1966. “The Culture of Poverty,” Scientific American, v215n4 (Oct 1966): 19-25.
Jellinek, Lea. 1997. “Displaced by Modernity: The Saga of a Jakarta Street-Trader’s Family from the 1940s to the 1990s,” 139-155 in Josef Gugler (ed.), Cities in the Developing World: Issues, Theory, and Policy. New York: Oxford University Press.
For Discussion On Tuesday, October 29, 2008
Lomnitz, Larissa. 1997. “The Social and Economic Organization of a Mexican Shanty-Town,” 204-217 in Josef Gugler (ed.), Cities in the Developing World: Issues, Theory, and Policy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bolak, Hale Cihan. 1997. “Marital Power Dynamics: Women Providers and Working-Class Households in Istanbul,” 218-232 in Josef Gugler (ed.), Cities in the Developing World: Issues, Theory, and Policy. New York: Oxford University Press.
McGee, R Jon & Belisa Gonzalez. 1999. “Economics, Women, and Work in the Lacandon Jungle,” Frontiers, v20n2 (1999):175(15).
Mid-term Paper Due: Thursday, October 30, 2008 , 2008
Kates, Robert W. 1996. “Population, Technology, and the Human Environment: A Thread Through Time,” Daedalus, v125n3 (Summer 1996): 43-71.
Goodland, Robert. 1991. “The Case that the World has Reached Limits,” 5-17 in Robert Goodland & Herman Daly & Salah El Serafy (eds.), Environmentally Sustainable Development: Building on Brundtland. World Bank Working Paper No. 46. (July 1991).
Cobb, Clifford & Ted Halstead & Jonathan Rowe. 1995. “If the GDP is Up, Why is America Down?” Atlantic Monthly, (Oct 1995): xx.
Kates, Robert W. & Thomas M. Parris & Anthony A. Leiserowitz. 2005. “What Is Sustainable Development? Goals, Indicators, Values and Practice,” Environment, v47n3 (April 2005): 8-21.
Starr, Chauncey. 1996. "Sustaining the Human Environment: The Next Two Hundred Years," Dædalus, v125n3 (Summer 1996): 235-253.
Rees, William E. 2002. “An Ecological Economic Perspective On Sustainability and Prospects for Ending Poverty,” Population and Environment, v24n1 (Sep 2002): 15+.
Decker, Ethan H & Scott Elliott & Felisa A. Smith. 2002. “Megacities and the Environment,” The Scientific World Journal, v2 (2002): 374-386.
Wackernagel, Mathis & Niels B. Schulz & Diana Deumling & Alejandro Callejas Linares & Martin Jenkins & Valerie Kapos & Chad Monfreda & Jonathan Loh & Norman Myers & Richard Norgaard & Jørgen Randers. 2002. “Tracking the Ecological Overshoot of the Human Economy,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v99n14 (July 9, 2002): 9266-9271.
Annotated Bibliographies for Final Paper Due: Thursday, November 27, 2008
Solecki, William D. & Robin M. Leichenko. 2006. “Urbanization and the Metropolitan Environment: Lessons from New York and Shanghai,” Environment, v48n4 (May 2006):
Kotkin, Joel. 2005. “Will Great Cities Survive?” The Wilson Quarterly, v29n2 (Spring 2005): 16(12).
Costanza, Robert. 1999. “Four Visions of the Century Ahead: Will It be Star Trek, Ecotopia, Big Government or Mad Max?” The Futurist, (Feb. 1999): 23-28.
Final Paper Due: Thursday, December 11, 2008