Reading Group

"Critical Conversations:  Ideas, Challenges, and Lessons in Development Research and Practice"

The Emory Program in Development Studies reading group will meet three times in the fall and spring semesters.

This reading group meets in an informal setting during the semester, and will share and discuss 1-2 short readings on a critical development studies issue. Among the Emory development studies community there is enough expertise to discuss many of the most critical and challenging issues in contemporary development research and practice. Depending on the monthly topic a volunteer selects the readings and helps lead the group discussion. The idea is not to defend a certain idea or topic but rather to find stimulating (even strongly controversial) pieces for the group to read, think about, and discuss. Monthly meetings are limited to one hour and selected readings are no more than 40 pages total per meeting (to be circulated one week prior to the meeting). Light refreshments are served at each meeting and the group is open both to faculty and students.

If you are interested in participating, please e-mail devstudies@emory.edu to be put on the listserve for the group.

Meetings are held in Anthro Bldg 206 (unless indicated otherwise)

SPRING 2019 SCHEDULE:

Wednesday, February 6, 12:15-1:15 pm, "Private Acts, Public Stories: Sanitation NGOs in India," Jennifer Barr.  (Light lunch provided.)

Wednesday, March 6, 12:15-1:15 pm, "An open discussion on de-growth as an alternative to development," Shreyas Sreenath. (Light lunch provided.)

Wednesday, April 3, 12:15-1;15 pm, "Material resources and cultural factors: Comparing competing hypotheses about the correlates of intimate partner violence in a global sample," Craig Hadley and Erik Ringen. (Light lunch provided.)

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PREVIOUS TOPICS:

Gender rights training and incident partner violence in Colombia (Kathryn Yount)

Global health and development, (Peter Brown, discussion leader)

Food security: what is it, how do we measure it, and why does it matter? (Craig Hadley, discussion leader)

Discussion of P. Little’s new book “Economic and Political Reform in Africa: Anthropological Perspectives” (Rick Doner, Discussion Leader)

Human Rights and Development, (David Davis, Discussion Leader)

Fair Trade, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Development (Wes Longhofer, Discussion Leader)

The politics and institutions of development tasks (R. Doner, discussion leader)

Risky states, post-conflict state rebuilding, and development (B. Knauft, discussion leader)  

Natural resource extraction and development (K. Phillips, discussion leader)

Climate risk: predicting or preparing for it? (C. Roncoli, discussion leader)

Paradigms for Sustainabilty and Agriculture. (P. Barlett, discussion leader)

Does democracy matter for development? (D. Nugent, discussion leader)

The “just give cash” approach to poverty alleviation! (P. Little, discussion leader)

The “dead aid” book debate (S. Cherribi, discussion leader)