SPRING 2000
This information effective for Spring 2000.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
Spring Quarter, 2000. Wednesdays 5pm to 8pm.
Famine, mass death from starvation, has been recorded throughout human history. In the Twentieth Century, this most terrible form of hunger became uncommon in the industrialized world, but famines still occurred in Asia and Africa. Even in parts of the industrialized world at the beginning of the Twentyfirst Century, persistent hunger and poverty continue to be prevalent. Recent findings suggest that famine can be prevented, and in some parts of the world there has been marked progress in the reduction of poverty. Nevertheless, hunger and poverty remain widespread in Africa, Asia and the USA.
In this course, we will examine key writings on hunger and famine and use them to explore film and newspaper representations of these issues. We will debate some questions, including: can democracy prevent famine? Why is there hunger in America?
Texts will probably include:
Dreze, J., & Sen, A. (1989). Hunger and Public Action. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Selections from Harriss-White, B., & Hoffenberg, R. (Ed.). (1994). Food: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Oxford and London: Blackwells.
Dreze, J., & Sen, A. (1995). The Political Economy of Hunger: Selected Essays. Oxford.
De Waal, A. (1997). Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa. Indian University Press, James Currey.
Eisinger, P. K. (1998). Toward an end to hunger in America. Washington DC: Brookings Institution.
Films will include:
Consuming Hunger &endash; about television coverage of famine in Ethiopia.When Ireland starved &endash; Irish famine of 1850s.
Isle of Flowers &endash; Brazilian film about the poverty which requires people to search garbage dumps for food.
Hunger in America &endash; classic late 1960s documentary describing poor Mexican Americans in Texas, tenant farmers in Virginia, Navajo in Arizona and African American sharecroppers in Alabama.
Distant Thunder &endash; film of World War II Bengal famine by famous Indian film-maker Satyajit Ray.
A Woman's Place &endash; women's initiatives in six countries.
Do you want to understand how goods are made? Why a few men are rich and powerful? Why many, including most women and minorities, are poor or powerless? What makes Silicon Valley tick? How the US economy depends upon the work of women and migrants and people in the Third World? Why the battle last year in Seattle mattered? Why work is changing? How economic power is shifting? How the economy is gendered? If so, this is the course for you.
Most of the contemporary economy is hidden from view. This course will uncover some of what is hidden and allow you to explore the implications of economic power. During the Quarter we will visit four or five sites of economic activity to observe what's going on and question people doing the work. These sites will probably include: a high tech manufacturing plant, a bank processing center, a labor market, a farm and a stockbroker. These field trips will enable us to see into a sample of factories and service centers. We will discuss descriptions of these activities before each visit, and debate the implications when we return.
There is no accessible guide to the economy, so we will write one during the Quarter. You will work in groups of three to describe, as simply as possible, some parts of economic and reproductive activity. We will take as our guiding example for this work the Magic School Bus series of childrens books and videos. We will analyze how the Magic School Bus books manage to convey complex scientific information while enthralling young children and see how we can apply those lessons to a simple guide to the economy.
As we go through the quarter, we will examine ways of analysing economic activity. These will include the mainstream economics view called Neoclassical Economics, the dominant sociological view called New Economic Sociology, and some dissident viewpoints, including feminist economics, institutional economics and political economy.
This course needs your skills! To work well, this course needs students from all parts of the university. In addition to social science majors, we need students with drawing skills, computer knowledge, photographic abilities, investigative skills, historical understanding, feminist perspectives and just plain curiosity. But you will have to work. This is not the best course for day dreamers.
Class will meet Tuesday and Thursday at 10 am during the spring quarter.