Power, Justice and (De)coloniality in Development 

7,5 credits, Uppsala University

General Information 

The course was established by the Department of Government at Uppsala University on 20 March 2023 and the syllabus was approved by the board 31 May 2023.The course is run online and offered as a freestanding course at Department of Government at Uppsala University. It is part of the Development Research School in Sustainable Development, hosted by the Department of Political Science, Lund University. The school and course are aimed at doctoral students interested in sustainable development research and the governance of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The course offers deep and up-to-date specialist knowledge in a limited area of political science, notably development studies, a goal also articulated in the General Curriculum for the PhD Program in the Department of Government, Uppsala University. The language of instruction is English. It consists of online lectures and seminars with discussions and presentations. Seminars and workshops require preparations and active participation of course participants. Such preparations will be both individual and group-based. 
 

Content

In the context of renewed calls to decolonize development studies, policies, and practice, this course addresses various aspects of power and justice in development. Rather than adapting a traditional perspective in which development practices and politics is portrayed as something enacted by the global North on the global South, the course is situated in the debates around decolonization in the contemporary global context.

The course is divided into three parts. It starts by providing a theoretical and conceptual overview of political, economic, and discursive dimensions of power in relation to development and (de)coloniality. The second part attends to the calls for decolonizing development policy and practice, including the decolonization of the discipline of development studies. The third part of the course applies theoretical and empirical knowledge acquired during the first two parts to debates around climate justice from a decolonial perspective. 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, the student will be able to: 

Knowledge and understanding:

• describe various approaches to power in development and contemporary debates and trends connected to power dynamics and climate justice in the global development landscape. 

Skills and abilities: 

• Identify and apply various approaches to power in sustainable development and show an awareness of limitations attached to different perspectives 
• Identify and critically discuss various perspectives in the debates on changes in the global development landscape and climate justice 

Judgement and approach: 

• Independently and in a reflexive manner analyse and assess calls towards climate justice and decolonizing development politics and studies, showing an ability to identify various dilemmas.

Assessment 

All seminars and workshop are mandatory. The assessment is based on active participation at the seminars, through oral presentations and written assignments including a final paper. All written assignments must be in English. The grades awarded are Pass or Fail. To receive a Pass the doctoral student must fulfil the learning outcomes of the course. At the beginning of the course, students will be informed about the learning outcomes stated in the syllabus as well as the grading scale and how it is applied at the course. 

Schedule and Literature List

All teaching takes place online (zoom). All hours are CET. The readings may be subject to slight revision which will communicated in due course before the start of the course. The readings will be made available.

A more comprehensive course guide, include presentation of the lectures and assignments, will be made available before the start of the course.

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Part 1. Theoretical and conceptual overview of political, economic, and discursive dimensions of power in relation to development and (de)coloniality

Lecture 1: Power: a multidimensional concept
Tuesday 7 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer Anders Sjögren

Readings:

• Allen, Amy (2022) Feminist Perspectives on Power. In Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.) The Stanford
• Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 Edition), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2022/entries/feminist-power/
• Brown, Wendy (2009) Power after Foucault. In John S. Dryzek (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 65-84. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199548439.003.0003
• Haugaard, Mark (2006) Power. In Austin Harrington, Barbara L. Marshall, and Hans-Peter Müller (eds.) Encyclopedia of Social Theory, London: Routledge, 457-462 
• Haugaard, Mark (2021) The four dimensions of power: conflict and democracy. Journal of Political Power, 14:1, 153-175, https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2021.1878411
• Jessop, Bob (2012) Marxist approaches to power. In Edwin Amenta, Kate Nash, and Alan Scott (eds.) The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology, First Edition, London: Blackwell. 3-14. 
• Lukes, Steven (2005) Power and the battle for hearts and minds. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 33: 3, 477-493, https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298050330031201

Lecture 2: Colonial and post-colonial power and/in development
Thursday 9 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Readings:

• Loomba, Ania (2002) Colonialism/postcolonialism. London Routledge (Chapter 1)
• Mignolo, W., & Tlostanova, M. (2008). The logic of coloniality and the limits of postcoloniality. In R. Krishnaswamy & J. C. Hawley (Eds.), (2008). The postcolonial and the global (pp. 109–123). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 
• Eriksson Baaz, Maria, and Swati Parashar. 2021. “The Master’s ‘Outlook’ Shall Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” International Politics Review, Forum
• Albrecht, M. (2020). “Postcolonialism cross-examined,” in Multidirectional Perspectives on Imperial and Colonial Pasts and the Neocolonial Present (London: Routledge)

Seminar 1: (Post)coloniality, power and development
Tuesday 14 November, 1pm-4pm

Seminar teachers: Anders Sjögren and Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

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Part 2. Calls for decolonizing development policy and practice, including the decolonization of the discipline of development studies

Lecture 3: Historical and contemporary calls for decolonizing development politics and practice
Friday 17 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Readings:

• Pieterse, Jan N. & Parekh, Bhiku. (1995), "Shifting imaginaries: decolonization, internal decolonization, postcoloniality", in J. Nederveen Pieterse e B. Parekh (orgs.), The decolonization of imagination: culture, knowledge and power, Londres/Nova Jersey, Zed Books, pp. 1-20.
• Kapoor, I. (2023). Decolonising Development Studies. Review of International Studies, 49(3), 346-355
• Spiegel, S., Gray, H., Bompani, B., Bardosh, K., & Smith, J. (2017). Decolonising online development studies? Emancipatory aspirations and critical reflections–a case study. Third World Quarterly, 38(2), 270-290.
• Patel, K. (2020). Race and a decolonial turn in development studies. Third World Quarterly, 41(9), 1463-1475

Lecture 4: Post-coloniality and de-coloniality
Tuesday 21 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Readings:

• Asher, K., and Ramamurthy, P. (2020). Rethinking decolonial and postcolonial knowledges beyond regions to imagine transnational solidarity. Hypatia 35, 542–547.
• Ballestrin, Luciana. "Postcolonial and decolonial subaltern feminisms." Postcolonial Studies 25.1 (2022): 108-127.
• Colpani, Gianmaria, Jamila MH Mascat, and Katrine Smiet. "Postcolonial responses to decolonial interventions." Postcolonial Studies 25.1 (2022): 1-16
• Gurminder K Bhambra (2014) Postcolonial and decolonial dialogues, Postcolonial Studies, 17:2, 115-121

Lecture 5: The concept of climate justice from a North/South perspective
Friday 24 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer Seema Arora-Jonsson

Readings:

• Arora-Jonsson, Seema (2018). “Across the Development Divide: A North–South Perspective on Environmental Democracy”, in Marsden, Terry (ed.) The SAGE Handbook on Nature. 737-760.
• Arora-Jonsson, Seema (2019). Indigeneity and climate justice in northern Sweden, in Bhavnani, Kum-Kum, Foran, John, Kurian, Priya A., and Munshi, Debanish (eds.) Climate Futures. Re-imagining global climate justice. 82-91.
• Arora-Jonsson, Seema, and Wahlström, Nora, 2023, ”Unraveling the production of ignorance in climate policymaking: The imperative of a decolonial feminist intervention for transformation”, Environmental Science and Policy, 149
• Arora-Jonsson, Seema, Westholm, Lisa, Pettit, Andrea, and Temu, Beatus John (2015) “Carbon and Cash in Climate Assemblages: The Making of a New Global Citizenship”, Antipode 48(1): 74-96.

Lecture 6: Decolonizing development research and teaching: what, how and by whom?
Tuesday 28 November, 1pm-3pm

Lecturer Eyob Gebremariam

Readings:

• Pailey, R.N., (2020). De‐centring the ‘White Gaze’ of Development. Development and Change, 51(3), 729-745. 
• Kothari, U. (2006). From colonialism to development: reflections of former colonial officers. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 44(1), 118-136.
• Santos, B.D.S., (2013) The World Social Forum as Epistemology of the South in Santos, B.D.S The rise of the global left: The world social forum and beyond. Zed Books Ltd, 13-34.
• Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J., (2018) Nomenclature of Decolonization. In Epistemic Freedom in Africa, 43-69.

Lecture 7: Decolonizing development research and teaching: what, how and by whom?
Wednesday 29 November, 9 am-12 noon

Lecturer David Mwambari

Readings: a selection of articles from among those listed below; which ones will be communicated later

• Mwambari, D. (2021). Can online platforms Be e-pana-africana liberation zones for pan-african and decolonization debates?. Codesria Bulletin, 5, 5.
• Mwambari, D. (2019). Africa’s next decolonisation battle should be about knowledge. Al Jazeera Media
• Mwambari, D. (2020). The pandemic can be a catalyst for decolonisation in Africa. Al Jazeera Media

Articles that use a decolonial approach to the study of the past:

• Mwambari, D. (2023). Vernacular memories: recalling Rwanda’s 1943–44 famine during the Covid-19 hunger crisis. Third World Quarterly, 1-20.
• Mwambari, D. (2021). Agaciro, vernacular memory, and the politics of memory in post-genocide Rwanda. African Affairs, 120(481), 611-628.
• Mwambari, D. (2019). Local positionality in the production of knowledge in Northern Uganda. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406919864845.

Seminar 2: (Post)coloniality, de-coloniality and development
Tuesday 5 December, 1pm-4pm

Seminar teachers: Maria Eriksson Baaz and Suruchi Thapar-Björkert

Seminar 3: oral presentations 
Tuesday 12 December, 1pm-4pm

Seminar teachers: Anders Sjögren, Maria Eriksson Baaz and Suruchi Thapar-Björkert