*Revised syllabus*

McGill University
ANTH 212 – Anthropology of Development – Winter 2020

Due to the cancellation of all on-campus activities in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, all remaining
activities for the Winter 2020 session of ANTH 212 will be conducted online. This revised syllabus
contains all available information on how the course will proceed.

Final exam

o The final exam for this course will be a take-home exam.

o The exam will be accessed and submitted over MyCourses.
o The exam will be available beginning at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, April 21st.
o The exam must be submitted by 11:59 pm on Friday, May 1st.
o The exam will consist of several written questions.
o The exam will be open-book, meaning students can consult whichever sources they want.
o The exam may test students’ understanding of lessons covered throughout the semester
including conference material.
o The final exam will be worth 40% of students’ grade, as originally planned.
o A preparation session for the final exam will be held online on Tuesday, April 14th.

Conference attendance

o Conference sessions for the remainder of the semester are cancelled.

o Conference attendance is now worth 5 percent of students’ grades, not 10.
o Grades for conference attendance will be tabulated and published on MyCourses as soon
as possible.

Midterm

o The results of the midterm exam are now available to students on MyCourses.
o The midterm is now worth 40 percent of students’ grades, not 35.
o Due to current restrictions on in-person meetings, students will not be able to view their
midterm until regular campus activity resumes.

Lectures

o Lectures will resume in an online format beginning Monday, March 30th.

o Four more lectures will be held (on March 30, April 1, April 6 and April 8).
o These four lectures will cover material originally intended to be covered in Weeks 11 and
12 (Sport and Development, and Voluntourism). The readings by Simon Darnell and
Kate Simpson remain required. Only those.
o The lectures will be recorded (PowerPoint presentations with spoken audio) and shared
over MyCourses or in another easily accessible format. Please be patient in the event of
technical difficulties.
o Students may watch, read, or study the lectures at whichever time is convenient.
o Lessons covered in the four final lectures will be tested on the final exam.

1
Conference presentations (*please read carefully*)

Students who did not deliver their conference presentation before the reading break will submit a brief
written assignment over MyCourses.

Each student will choose one of three videos (links below) and write a reflection of between 600
and 800 words. The reflections should address similar questions to those addressed in the
presentations, such as:

• Is there anything controversial about the narratives or perspectives shared in this piece?
• What does this video say about poverty or the ways that poverty is typically defined?
• How might the development efforts depicted in these pieces be improved?
• What does this piece tell us about the relationship between anthropology and international
development?

Compose the reflection using a Word (.doc) document. Font, spacing, citations and other
technical aspects do not matter for this assignment.

This assignment is entirely individual. No teamwork is required.

This assignment will be due for all participating students on Tues, April 14th at 11:59 pm.

Students who have already presented do not need to do this assignment.

Each student will choose one of three videos to discuss. Students who were scheduled to present
on Friday, March 13th, may base their submission on the video they were preparing to discuss
that day – Video 3.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGoRXuHiVFo&t=227s

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoVziAwPRNI&t=4s

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srYOu0RZ76M&t=311s

Revised course evaluation schema

40 % In-class midterm.

5% Conference attendance.

15 % Conference panel presentation or take home reflection assignment.

40 % Final exam.

Please note: Any students who fall ill or are otherwise unable to complete course requirements for
reasons related to the Covid-19 pandemic will be accommodated to the greatest extent feasible. In the
event that Dr Fox cannot perform his duties as the leader of the course, the teaching assistants will mark
assignments and final exams under the leadership of a member of the Anthropology faculty.

2
 Revised course itinerary and required readings

Date Topic Required readings & conference material

Week 1 Jan 6 NO CLASS NO CLASS

Jan 8 Introduction Gardner and Lewis, Prelude, Pp. 1-8

No lecture or
Jan 10
conferences

History of Gardner and Lewis

Week 2 Jan 13
Development Chapter 1, Pp. 1-19

*Explanation of
William Cronan, “The Goals of a Liberal Education”
Jan 15 conferences and
(MyCourses)
presentations*

No lecture or
Jan 17
conferences

Theories of Gardner and Lewis

Week 3 Jan 20
Development Chapter 1, Pp. 19-28

Theories of
Jan 22 Gardner and Lewis, Chapter 1, Pp. 28-45
development pt. 2

Panel presentation material:

Jan 24 Conference 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vCsLVWu9to&t=139s

Contemporary
Week 4 Jan 27 issues in Escobar, A., “Encountering development”, Ch. 1 (MyCourses)
development

Anthropology in Eriksen, “Small places, large issues.” (MyCourses)

Jan 29
focus

3
 Panel presentation material:
Jan 31 Conference 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W27PnUuXR_A&t=4s

Applied Gardner and Lewis

Week 5 Feb 3
anthropology Chapter 2, Pp. 46-59

Applying
Gardner and Lewis
Feb 5 anthropology to Chapter 2, Pp. 59-77
development

Panel presentation material:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP7EGwrelDc
Feb 7 Conference 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTg6g9mR2FQ&t=42s

Anthropology of
Week 6 Feb 10 Gardner and Lewis Chapter 3, Pp. 78-103
development pt. 1

Anthropology of
Feb 12 Gardner and Lewis Chapter 3, Pp. 103-124
development pt. 2

Panel presentation material:

Feb 14 Conference 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egu4AJBXlto

What’s all the Gardner and Lewis

Week 7 Feb 17
buzz? Chapter 5 Pp. 151-167

What’s all the Gardner and Lewis

Feb 19
buzz? Pt. 2 Chapter 5 Pp. 167-176

Panel presentation material:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU_RCRb5Bwo&t=19s
Feb 21 Conference 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paaen3b44XY&t=12s

Week 8 Feb 24 Midterm review

Feb 26 In class midterm *In class midterm*

Feb 28 *No conferences* *No conferences*

4
Reading March
Reading Week Reading Week
Week 2-6

March Development and Wolfgang Sachs, The Development Dictionary,

Week 9
9 environmentalism Pp. 24-37.

March Development and

Katherine Homewood, “They call it Shangri-La.”
11 conservation

March
Conference 6 CANCELLED
13

Week March
Lecture CANCELLED
10 16

March
Lecture CANCELLED
18

March
Conference 7 CANCELLED
20

Week March
Lecture CANCELLED
11 23

March
Lecture CANCELLED
25

March
Conference 8 CANCELLED
27

Week March Sport and

Simon Darnell, “Right to play.” (MyCourses)
12 30 Development

Sport and
April 1 Simon Darnell, “Right to play.” (MyCourses)
Development

April 3 Conference 9 CANCELLED

Week
April 6 Voluntourism Kate Simpson, “Doing development.” (MyCourses)
13

April 8 Voluntourism Kate Simpson, “Doing development.” (MyCourses)

Week April
Final exam review and preparation session
14 14