Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

Omar S. Dahi
Hampshire College
odahi@hampshire.edu
ph: 413-559-5392
Office Hours: MTW2-4pm (or by appointment)
FPH 203

Globalization and Africa SS 102T

MW 10:30-11:50 am
Franklin Patterson Hall 105
Course Motivation and Overview:
Multinational institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank are widely recognized as leading forces behind neo-liberal
globalization. What is less clear is the role each plays in the process. This course is an
introduction to and critical examination of the African experience with multinational
institutions and globalization. Topics will include, overall economic performance throughout
the continent in the past 30 years; the impact of IMF and World Bank programs; challenges
confronting agricultural development and the impact of EU and US subsidies on the
livelihoods of farmers; the rise and recent success (such as in the Cancun Ministerial) of
developing country coalitions within the WTO such as the African Group and African
Caribbean Partnership and their potential for increasing the power of African nations within
the global arena; an exploration of viable development alternatives -including industrial and
agricultural policies- as well as a discussion of democratic reforms that took place in the 1990s
and their implication for proposed solutions to poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. REA, WRI,
MCP, PRJ, PRS, QUA
Course Goals and Structure:
The course readings, class discussions, and assignments are designed to introduce you to
economic theory, especially in the fields of development and international trade, with an
application to Sub-Saharan Africa. You should have all the readings done before coming to
class since most in-class activities build on the readings. In other words we do not always
discuss the specifics of the readings, unless you have questions. It is a good idea to come with
at least two questions from each of the readings and hand them in if you do not get a chance
to ask them in class. Most classes will involve a combination of discussions, small group
activities, and lectures. Please take good notes because most of what I will be presenting in
class will not be from the textbook.

Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

Required Texts:
Mkandwire, Thandika, and Charles C. Soludo, 1999. Our Continent Our Future: African
perspectives on structural adjustment. Africa World Press, Inc.: Trenton. (available through
Hampshire College Bookstore)
Vanity Fair Magazine July 2007, Africa, A Special Issue Guest-Edited by Bono
[I will distribute copies of this magazine to each of you in class. Please hold on to your copy
because I do not have any more and the issue is already off the shelves.]

Supplemental Texts:
Economics:
Hahnel, R. 2002. The ABCs of Political Economy: a modern approach, Pluto Press: Sterling.
Case, K. E. and R. C. Fair. 2003. Principles of Economics, Prentice Hall: New Jersey.
Sub-Saharan Africa:
Grinker, R.R. and C. B. Steiner, eds. 1997. Perspectives On Africa: A Reader in Culture,
History, and Representation, Blackwell Publishing: Malden.
Van de Walle, N. 2001. African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999,
Cambridge University Press: New York.

Requirements:
a. Quantitative Module (w/ Professor Fatemeh Giahi)
b. Research Paper
c. Four Essay Questions
d. Response Papers
e. Presentation

Course Requirements:
There are five main requirements for the course. Receiving an evaluation is contingent on
successful completion of all requirements as well as regular class attendance. Your evaluation
will focus on attendance and participation, overall quality of work, as well as progress.
a. Quantitative Module (w/ Professor Fatemeh Giahi)

Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

This course is designed, in addition to exploring the topics mentioned above, to also introduce
you to academic life at Hampshire College. Therefore, structured into the course are various
activities which will familiarize you with academic departments on campus. The main
activity is a Quantitative Module which is designed to a) introduce you to the Quantitative
Learning Center (QLC), b) help you acquire basic quantitative literacy, c) assist you in
researching and writing the research paper, and d) help satisfy the QUA learning goal that is a
requirement of the First Year Studies program. Professor Fatemeh Giahi
(fgiahi@hampshire.edu) from the QLC will be assisting you and overseeing your progress of
the Module. In other words, SHE will mark your satisfactory completion of the Module.
b. Research Paper (8-10 pages)
The research paper, due the last day of class (December 5, 2007), should focus on a
country/region in Sub-Saharan Africa. The exact topic you choose to research within that
country/region is up to you, but should be related to the themes discussed in the course. As
the semester progresses, I will suggest possible topics. The main requirement is that you
incorporate your data research and findings from the Quantitative Module into the paper
(how this might work will become clearer to you as you are completing the QM).
c. Four Essays (4-5 pages)
The four essays will usually require a synthesis of the various readings assigned in the course,
as well as outside sources. I will be distributing the essay questions and due dates of each as
we proceed during the semester.
d. Weekly Response Papers (1-2 pages each)
Over the course of the semester I will ask you to write a brief response paper to comment on
a particular reading(s) or question. These will usually be assigned on Wednesdays and will be
due the following Monday (if there is no class meeting on that Monday, theyll be due the
first scheduled class meeting).
e. Research Presentation (10 minutes)
In the research presentation you will present your main research findings to the class. The
presentations are scheduled for the last two class meetings. You have the option to use
multimedia (power point, videos, clips, etc.) though this is not a requirement.

Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

Assistance with Research and Writing:

Will Ryan (Writing Center wjrWP@hampshire.edu ) and Dan Schnurr (Hampshire Library
dfsLO@hampshire.edu ) are available to help you with writing/research problems. You will
get to meet them at different points during the semester but you can contact them directly if
you feel you need extra assistance.

Special Needs:
If you believe that you may have a learning disability or require special accommodation,
please contact Joel Dansky (Disability Services Coordinator jdAC@hampshire.edu ) directly.

Course Website:
The course website https://athena.hampshire.edu/S293106 contains pdf files of all readings
outside the required text and Vanity Fair Magazine. The online readings are denoted with an
asterisk.

Ethics of Scholarship:
All students are expected to abide by the Colleges Ethics of Scholarship guidelines available
at: https://intranet.hampshire.edu/cms/index.php?id=7355

Teaching Assistant:
Joseph Fuentes (jaf05@hampshire.edu) will be the Teaching Assistant for this course. He will
be available in person or over email to assist you with course material as well as answer
questions about Hampshire student life.

We may spend a few minutes in every class meeting discussing non-course related issues.
However I am available in person at the posted office hours or by appointment or else over
email for more specific questions.

Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

Tentative Schedule
( In addition to the readings below, I will also be distributing various articles and
news items in class throughout the semester.)

Section I: Origins of Underdevelopment; Development Trajectories;

Structural Adjustment. Focus on World Bank and IMF
Week 1 September 5th:

Introduction and Overview of Course

Response Paper 1: 1) What is Economics? 2) Look over the IMF, WB, and WTO websites.
What is the mandate of each organization? What similarities and differences are
apparent? What issues/themes are highlighted or stressed on their websites? Discuss at
least two items that you found particularly interesting
Week 2 September 10 & 12th

Introduction to Economic Theory; History of Economic Thought;

OCOF Introduction, pp. xi-xiv.

*Wainaina, Binyavanga, 2006. How to write about Africa, Granta 92: The View
from Africa, available at http://www.granta.com/extracts/2615

World Bank (www.worldbank.org); IMF (www.imf.org); WTO (www.wto.org);

Week 3 September 17 & 19th

*McMichael, Philip, 2000. Development and the Global Marketplace in

Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, Pine Forge Press: Thousand
Oaks, pp. xxvii-xli

*Herman, E. 1999. The Threat of Globalization, New Politics, 7(2): 26

*Bhagwati, J. 2004. The Human Face of Globalization, Global Agenda Magazine

*Ferguson, James, 2006. Global Shadows: Africa In the Neoliberal World Order, Duke
University Press: Durham, Chapter 1: Globalizing Africa? Observations from An
Inconvenient Continent, pp. 25-49.

Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

Chang, H.J. 2003. Kicking Away the Ladder, The Real History of Free Trade,

Foreign Policy in Focus Report.

Documentary Screening Monday September 17th , FPH 108, 7-9pm: Darwins

Nightmare

Week 4 September 24 & 26 [Sept. 27th Advising Day]

OFOC Chapter 1: Assessing Initial Conditions pp. 1-20

*Rodney, Walter. 1997. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa in Grinker, R. R. and

C. B. Steiner (eds.) Perspectives On Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and
Representation, Blackwell Publishing: Malden. pp. 585-596

Screen In-Class: The Great African Cake

Supplemental Reading:

*Ferguson, James, 2006. Global Shadows: Africa In the Neoliberal World Order, Duke
University Press: Durham, Chapter 2: Paradoxes of Sovereignty and Independence:
Real and Pseudo- Nation-States and The Depoliticization of Poverty, pp. 50- 68.

*Van Allen, Judith. 1997. Sitting On A Man: Colonialism and the Lost Political
Institutions of Igbo Women in Grinker, R. R. and C. B. Steiner (eds.) Perspectives On
Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation, Blackwell Publishing:
Malden. pp. 536- 549

*Bohannan, Paul. 1997. Some Principles of Exchange and Investment Among the
Tiv in Grinker, R. R. and C. B. Steiner (eds.) Perspectives On Africa: A Reader in
Culture, History, and Representation, Blackwell Publishing: Malden. pp. 119-128

Documentary Screening Tuesday September 25th , FPH 108, 7-9pm: Our

Friends at the Bank

Week 5 October 1 & 3

OCOF Chapter 2: The Crisis Diagnosis and Prescriptions pp. 21-48

Guest Speaker: Professor Frank Holmquist

Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

*Ake, Claude. 1996. Democracy and Development in Africa, Brookings Institution:

Washington D.C. Chapter 1: The Development Paradigm and Its Politics pp. 1-17.

Week 6 October 8 & 10 [Oct. 8 off; Oct. 10 mid-semester evals due]

OCOF Chapter 3: The Adjustment Experience, pp. 49-85

*Lewis, Stephen. 2006. Race Against Time, Anansi: Toronto. Chapter 1 Context: It

Shames and Diminishes Us All

Supplemental Reading:

* Ake, Claude. 1996. Democracy and Development in Africa, Brookings Institution:

Washington D.C. Chapter 2: A Confusion of Agendas, pp. 18-41

Documentary Screening Wednesday October 10th , WLH, 7-9pm: Black Gold

Section II: Current Debates: Development or Post-Development? ; Millennium Development

Goals; Foreign Aid; Regionalism and Emerging Coalitions. Focus on World Trade
Organization
Week 7 October 15 & 17

OCOF Chapter 4: Widening the Road Ahead

*Dutt, A. K. 2006. The World Trade Organization University of Notre Dame,

Department of Economics and Policy Studies, Unpublished Manuscript.

Week 8 October 22 & 24

*Bond, Patrick. 2006. Looting Africa, Zed Books: New York. Chapter 4: Unequal
Exchange Revisited: Trade, investment, wealth depletion, pp. 55-94

*Bond, Patrick. 2006. Looting Africa, Zed Books: New York. Chapter 5: Global
Apartheids African Agents: Home-grown neoliberalism, repression, failed reform, pp.
95-110

Week 9 October 29 & 31

Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

*Narlikar, A. and R. Wilkinson, 2004. Collapse at the WTO: a Cancun post-mortem,

Third World Quarterly, 25(3): 447-460.

* African Group Proposal on Agriculture

Week 10 November 5 & 7 [Nov. 7 Advising Day]

*Sachs, Jeffrey. 2005. The End of Poverty: Economics Possibilities for Our Time,
Penguin Books: New York. Chapters 13 & 14, pp. 244-287

Week 11 November 12 & 14

*Sachs, Jeffrey. 2005. The End of Poverty: Economics Possibilities for Our Time,
Penguin Books: New York. Chapter 16, p. 309-328

*Lewis, Stephen. 2006. Race Against Time, Anansi: Toronto. Chapter 5 Solutions: A

Gallery of Alternatives in Good Faith

Week 12 November 19 & 21 [Nov 21 Thanksgiving Break]

*Bond, Patrick. 2006. Looting Africa, Zed Books: New York. Chapter 3: Financial
Inflows and Outflows: Phantom aid, debt peonage, capital flight, pp. 31-54

Week 13 November 26 & 28

*Ferguson, James, 2006. Global Shadows: Africa In the Neoliberal World Order, Duke
University Press: Durham, Chapter 7: Decomposing Modernity: History and
Hierarchy After Development, pp. 176-193

*Ferguson, James, 2006. Global Shadows: Africa In the Neoliberal World Order, Duke
University Press: Durham, Chapter 8: Governing Extraction: New Spatializations of
Order and Disorder in Neoliberal Africa, pp. 194- 210.

November 26 & 28: In-class work on Final Paper

Week 14 December 3 & 5

Globalization and Africa SS 102T Hampshire College Fall 2007

Presentations