Development studies is designed to provide a comparative perspective on the long-term social, political, and economic changes which have accompanied industrialization and the growth of the modern state in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the historical experience of European countries. Course selection should balance analytic training with local and historical knowledge. In the latter respect, it should reflect concern with at least two major areas of the developing world (at least two courses in each of the two areas, or two courses in one area and one course each in two other areas). Courses must be taken in at least three social science disciplines in order to have an interdisciplinary approach to these processes of change. All DS students are required to write a senior thesis.
Since study abroad is a potentially important part of the concentration, the possibility of spending part or all of the junior year in a developing world country should be discussed with concentration advisors and the Office of International Programs at the earliest possible time. Acquisition of relevant foreign language skills is also considered an important part of training in the study of development, although language courses cannot count for concentration.
Ten appropriate courses should be chosen from the following departmental offerings (see partial listing under Development Studies): Africana Studies; Anthropology; Biology and Medicine: Community Health; Economics; Education; Engineering; Environmental Studies; History; International Relations; Latin American Studies; Modern Culture and Media; Political Science; Portuguese and Brazilian Studies; Religious Studies; Sociology; and University Courses. Development-related courses not listed here may be counted with permission of the program director. Important courses to consider include SO 160, SO 15, PS 124, PS 142, SO 162 and AN 185. Concentrators are strongly encouraged to include economics development courses in their program; to facilitate this, students who take economics development courses (e.g., EC 151 or EC 156) for which EC 111 or EC 121 is a prerequisite are also allowed to count EC 111 or EC 121 for the concentration. Alternatively, students may enroll in EC 51.
All concentrators are urged to take DS 100 in the sophomore year, or if necessary their junior year, and are required to take the Senior Seminar (Development Studies 198) in addition to the ten courses chosen. Concentrators must also complete a thesis in their senior year which serves to integrate the work done in the concentration. Two faculty members must supervise the work and evaluate the final result.
In order to design a coherent program of study with clearly stated goals, concentrators should discuss their entire program with one of the concentration advisors. They are Louis Putterman, Department of Economics; Paget Henry, Department of Sociology; Lina Fruzzetti, Department of Anthropology; Daniel Smith, Department of Anthropology; Richard Snyder, Department of Political Science.
Page last updated in April, 2007.