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 SOC 1600, SOC 0150, POLS 1240, POLS 1420, SOC 1620 and ANTH 1320. Concentrators are strongly encouraged to include economics development courses in their program; to facilitate this, students who take economics development courses (e.g., ECON 1510 or ECON 1560) for which ECON 1110 or ECON 1210 is a prerequisite are also allowed to count ECON 1110 or ECON 1210 for the concentration. Alternatively, students may enroll in ECON 0510.
All concentrators are urged to take DEVL 1000 in the sophomore year, or if necessary their junior year, and are required to take the Senior Seminar (DEVL 1980 Thesis Writing in Development Studies) in addition to the ten courses chosen. DEVL 1500, Methods in Development Research is a recommended course, primarily for DS juniors. 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. Seniors must sign up for DEVL 1990, Senior Thesis Preparation, with their primary advisor.
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 Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Development Studies and Department of Sociology; Cornel Ban, Development Studies; 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 December, 2008.