CP0360: Researching Contemporary Issues in Tanzania

School Cardiff School of Geography and Planning
Department Code GEOPL
Module Code CP0360
External Subject Code 100671
Number of Credits 20
Level L6
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Dr Thomas Smith
Semester Spring Semester
Academic Year 2015/6

Outline Description of Module

What are the contemporary development challenges for countries of the global South? How are these being practically engaged with and conceptually understood through current development projects, state intervention and research? Tanzania is perhaps most well known in Western geographical imaginaries for its rich and globally significant environments and wildlife, including Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti. Yet it is also a rapidly developing country facing a range of contemporary challenges associated with urban growth, environmental pressures, integration into the global economy, and changing social norms around gender, age and culture. It is equally a country with a problematic colonial and post-colonial history, all of which are inflected in current development challenges. This Field Study Visit to Tanzania seeks to explore these core development challenges in a context which offers rich possibilities for engaging with issues including rapid urban development, urban and rural poverty, informal housing, environmental sustainability, transportation, gender, social justice, children and youth, legacies of colonial & post-colonial development and the role of global processes at the local scale. Students taking this module will conduct empirical field research in a challenging research environment to gain skills and experience in qualitative field methods, analysis, and presentation. The module will encourage critical engagement with core development issues in the global South, using empirical field data and observation to enhance knowledge and practical skills.

On completion of the module a student should be able to

  1. Apply key concepts to empirical material and practical cases.
  2. Explore different cultures and compare them with their own cultural positions.
  3. Devise and implement an appropriate strategy for the collection of field data using a variety of different methods.
  4. Analyse field data and use evidence to define and explore contemporary problems facing cities and regions.
  5. Explain processes of contemporary change in cities and regions by relaying the specific ways in which these work out in a particular place.
  6. Identify and evaluate examples of innovative practices in managing change in cities and regions.
  7. Examine the extent to which ideas, concepts and practices identified in one place can be effectively transferred to another place, and explain how such ideas, concepts and practices need to be adapted in different places.

How the module will be delivered

The module will be delivered through a combination of lectures, a field study visit which includes the practice of field research methods, and presentations. Lecture slides and supplementary hand-outs will be made available on Learning Central (e-learning).

 

Students are expected to engage with compulsory guided reading associated with each topic to supplement and deepen the taught component.

Skills that will be practised and developed

  1. Ability to mobilise theoretically-informed arguments and relate them to empirical material and observations from the fieldtrip.
  2. Researching key processes at play in the field study destination.
  3. Ability to assess the transferability and scalability of these processes to other places.
  4. The use of qualitative methods and analysis in the field, including field observation and documentation skills.
  5. Appreciation of the implications, in practice, of norms about respecting cultural and other difference.
  6. Intercultural and professional skills in respect to interaction with individuals from other cultures.
  7. Critical and reflective thinking.
  8. Presenting empirical and theoretical material to convey a solid understanding of contemporary issues in development.

How the module will be assessed

Students will be expected to demonstrate a conceptual and practical understanding of the key issues associated with aspects of contemporary development in the case study of Tanzania. This is assessed through coursework which all students must undertake.

 

The mode of assessment for this module consists of one written research report assignment, which accounts for 100% of the total module mark. The research report must be based on research evidence from one of the research projects undertaken by the student during the Field Study Visit.

 

Type of assessment

 

%

Contribution

Title

Duration
(if applicable)

Approx. date of Assessment

Research Report Assignment.

100%

Assignment briefs to be provided

4,000 words

Spring

 

 

The opportunity for reassessment in this module

 

Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with the course regulations. The reassessment will usually take place during the summer.

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 100 Research Report Assignment N/A

Syllabus content

Through a combination of lectures, personal observations and field research, students will develop a theoretical and empirical understanding of contemporary development challenges in Tanzania. Lectures and guided reading prior to the field course will familiarise students with current theories and practices of development, the history of development in colonial and post-colonial Tanzania, and current development issues for the country. During the field course, students will undertake both guided and independent field research on a range of core development topics, including: rapid urban development, urban and rural poverty, informal housing, environmental sustainability, transportation, gender, social justice, children and youth, legacies of colonial & post-colonial development and the role of global processes at the local scale. Field research will include developing a research idea, choosing appropriate methods, qualitative data collection at a range of field sites, analysis and presentation. Through collection of data students will develop and enhance core skills in qualitative methods, and they will practice these in a challenging environment which will necessitate cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity, and an attention to the ethics of conducting field research in the global South. Students will further develop an understanding of the range of actors involved in local development, including NGOs and charitable organisations, state and local government, private organisations alongside the role of local people and communities.

Essential Reading and Resource List

  • Chant, S., and McIlwaine, C. (2009) Geographies of Development in the 21st Century. An introduction to the Global South, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  • Potter, R., Conway, D., Evans, R. and Lloyd-Evans, S. (2012) Key Concepts in Development Geography, London: Sage.
  • Potter, R., Bins, T., Elliot, J. and Smith, D. (2008) Geographies of Development. (2nd, 3rd or 4th edition) Longman, Harlow.
  • Williams, G., Meth, P. and Willis, K. (2009) Geographies of Developing Areas: The Global South in a Changing World. Routledge, London.
  • Desai, V. and Potter, R. (2008) The Companion to Development Studies.  (2nd Edition) Arnold, London.

Background Reading and Resource List

  • Brockington, D. and Duffy, R. (2010), Capitalism and Conservation: The Production and Reproduction of Biodiversity Conservation. Antipode, 42: 469–484.
  • Briggs, J. & Mwamfupe, D. (2000) Peri-urban development in an era of structural adjustment in Africa: the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Urban Studies 37 (4), 797-809.
  • Briggs, J. & Yeboah, I. E. A. (2001) Structural adjustment and the contemporary sub-Saharan African City, Area 33 (1), 18-26.
  • Dill, B. (2009) The paradoxes of community-based participation in Dar es Salaam, Development and Change 40 (4), 717-743.
  • Evans, R. (2006) Negotiating social identities: The influence of gender, age and ethnicity on young people’s ‘street careers’ in Tanzania, Children’s Geographies 4 (1), 109-128.
  • Goldman, M. J. (2015) Innovative grassroots NGOs and the complex processes of Women’s empowerment: An empirical investigation from Northern Tanzania, World Development 66, 762-777.
  • Gray L C and Moseley W G (2005) ‘A geographical perspective on poverty-environment interactions’ Geographical Journal 171(1):9-23.
  • Hodgson, D.L., Schroeder, R., (2002) Dilemmas of counter-mapping community resources in Tanzania. Development and Change 33, 79–100.
  • Hope K (2004) The poverty dilemma in Africa: towards policies for including the poor, Progress in Development Studies 4(2): 127-141
  • Kelsall, T. & Mercer, M. (2003) Empowering people? World Vision and ‘transformatory development’ in Tanzania, Review of African Political Economy 30 (96), 293-304.
  • Kesby, M., Gwanzura-Ottemoller, F., Chizororo, M., (2006) Theorising other, ‘other childhoods’: issues emerging from work on HIV in urban and rural Zimbabwe, Children’s Geographies 4 (2), 185–202.
  • Kironde, J.M.L. (2006) The regulatory framework, unplanned development and urban poverty: Findings from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Land Use Policy 23, 460-472.
  • Mercer, C., Mohan, G. and Power, M. (2003) ‘Towards a critical political geography of African development’ Geoforum 34(4): 419-430.
  • Mercer, C. (2002) The discourse of Maendeleo and the politics of women's participation on Mount Kilimanjaro. Development and Change 33, 101-127. 

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