Geography 4100: Development and Environment in Latin America

Key assignment dates – all assignments due at beginning of class unless otherwise noted.

In class exam	September 16
Unit Commentary #2	October 7
Unit Commentary #3	November 4
Unit Commentary #4	November 20
Final Paper	December 16, 12pm

Late papers are subject to grade deductions.

Introduction

Aug. 24-26 | Aug. 31 – Sept. 2 | Sept. 7-9 | Sept. 14-16

Part II: A Rich Realm of Nature Made Poor?

Sept. 21-23 | Sept. 28-30 |Oct. 5-7 | Oct. 12-14 | Oct. 19-21 | Oct. 26-28 | Nov. 2-4

Part III: A Region in Flux

Nov. 9-11 | Nov. 16-18

Part IV: What’s Next?

Nov. 30- Dec. 2 | Dec. 7-9

Course Schedule

Part 1: Introduction

1) Week 1: Introduction – Why are people poor? What is to be done?

a. August 24: Course overview

i. Lecture: What is development?

b. August 26: Development – A geographical perspective

i. United Nations. 2005. “The Millennium Development Goals: a Latin American and Caribbean Perspective.” Chapter 1, pp. 1-22. Santiago, Chile. The entire report is available from the Economic Council on Latin America (ECLAC/CEPAL).

ii. United Nations. Millennium Development Goals website. ***Be sure to familiarize yourself with the 8 goals of this initiative.***

iii. Jeffrey Sachs, et al. 2001. “The Geography of Poverty and Wealth.” Scientific American 284(3): 70-75 Alternate links 1 2

iv. VIDEO: World Bank. 2008. “World Development Report 2009.” Available on YouTube.

v. Lecture: What can geography offer to understanding development?

2) Week 2: Theories of development

a. Aug 31: Formative ideas about development

i. Marx, K. and F. Engels. 2000 (1848). “The Communist Manifesto” and “Alienated labor.” In Roberts, J.T. and A. Hite, eds. From modernization to globalization: perspectives on development and social change. Malden, MA; Blackwell. Pp. 25-34.

ii. Rostow, W.W. 2000 (1960). “The stages of economic growth: a non-Communist manifesto.” In Roberts, J.T. and A. Hite, eds. From modernization to globalization: perspectives on development and social change. Malden, MA; Blackwell. Pp. 47-55.

iii. Lecture: Overview of theories of Development

b. September 2: Critical perspectives on Development

i. Escobar, A. 1997 (1995). “The Making and Unmaking of the Third World through Development.” In Rahnema, M. and V. Bawtree, eds. The Post-Development Reader. London: Zed Press. Pp. 85-93

ii. Gunder Frank, Andre. 1989 (1966). “The development of underdevelopment.” Monthly Review 41(2): 37-52.

iii. Esteva, Gustavo. 1992. “Development.” In W. Sachs, ed., The Development Dictionary. London: Zed Books. Pp. 6-25.

iv. Lecture: Beyond development? Critical interventions

3) Week 3:

a. September 7: Labor day – no class

b. September 9: natural resources

i. Liverman, D. and S. Vilas. 2006. “Neoliberalism and the Environment in Latin America.” Annual Review of Environmental Resources. 31:327-63

ii. Inter-American Development Bank. 2003. “Environment: strategy document.” Washington, D.C.

iii. Lecture: Integrating issues of economy and environment under neoliberalism

4) Week 4: Natural resources, reconsidered

a. September 14: Whose Nature?

i. A. Escobar. 1998. “Whose knowledge, whose nature? Biodiversity, conservation, and the political ecology of social movements.” Journal of Political Ecology 5: 53–82.

ii. “Indigenous Peoples’ Earth Charter (The Kari-Oca Declaration)” 1992.

iii. Lecture: Alternative natures

b. September 16:

i. In-class exam

ii. Exam key (posted 9/28/09)

Part II: A Rich Realm of Nature Made Poor?

5) Week 5: Agrarian production

a. September 21: Agrarian Questions

i. S. Barraclough. 1994. “The Legacy of Latin American land reform.” NACLA Report on the Americas, 28(3):16-22.

ii. C. Kay. 2008. “Reflections on Latin American Rural Studies in the Neoliberal Globalization Period: A New Rurality?” Development and Change, 39(6): 914-943.

iii. Lecture: Land and Labor: the roots of development

b. September 23: Coffee

i. Jaffee pt. 1: pp. 1-57

ii. Lecture: Global Food Systems

6) Week 6: Niche markets, cont’d

a. September 28:

i. Jaffee, pt. 2: 58-132

ii. Lecture: Commodity chain analysis

b. September 30:

i. Jaffee, p. 3; pp. 133-164.

ii. Gleissman, S. 2008. “Agroecological foundations for designing sustainable coffee agroecosystems.” In Bacon, et al., eds. Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Fair trade, sustainable livelihoods, and ecosystems in Mexico and Central America, pp. 27-41. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

iii. Lecture: integrating ecology and production

7) Week 7: Niche Markets, cont’d

a. October 5: Coffee

i. Jafee, pt. 4; pp. 165-198.

ii. J. Nevins. 2007. “Dying for a cup of coffee? Migrant Deaths in the US-Mexico Border Region in a Neoliberal Age.” Geopolitics 12: 228-247.

iii. Lecture: Environment and Migration

iv. Frente Indígena Oaxaqueña Binacional (FIOB) and video “Women who organize make progress”

b. October 7: Coffee

i. Jaffee, finish; pp. 199-266.

ii. Guest lecture: Mark Glenn, Conscious Coffees http://consciouscoffees.com/

October 12: Unit Commentary #1 due

8) Week 8: Forests

a. October 12: The Fate(s) of the Forest

i. Frances Putz, “Are you a conservationist or a logging advocate?” In Zarin, D. eds. Working forests in the Neotropics: conservation through sustainable management? New York: Colombia University Press. Pp. 15-30

ii. VIDEO: The World Bank. Amazon Region Protected Areas Project – ARPA. Available on YouTube.

iii. Rohter, L. 2007. “In the Amazon: Colonialism or Conservation?” The New York Times,

iv. Lecture: Working landscapes

b. October 14: Conservation as Development

i. Fearnside, Philip 2003 “Conservation Policy in Brazilian Amazonia: Understanding the Dilemmas”, World Development, 31(5): 757-779.

ii. Goeschl, T. and D. C. Igliori. 2006. “Property rights for biodiversity conservation and development: extractive reserves in the Brazilian Amazon.” Development and Change, 37(2): 427-451.

iii. Lecture: Conservation as development

9) Week 9: Oil

a. October 19:

i. Sawyer, pt. 1: pp 1-26.

ii. Lecture: Indigeneity

b. October 21:

i. Sawyer, pt. 2: pp. 27-90.

ii. Lecture: Nature and nationalism

10) Week 10: Oil

a. October 26:

i. Sawyer, pt. 3: pp. 91-117.

ii. Karl, TL. 1999. "The Perils of the Petro-State: reflections on the paradox of plenty.” Journal of International Affairs, 53(1):31-48.

iii. Lecture: A resource curse?

b. October 28:

i. Sawyer, pt. 4: pp. 118- 181

ii. Lecture: Resource concessions and environmental governance

11) Week 11: Oil

a. November 2:

i. Sawyer, pt. 5: pp. 182-210

ii. Lecture: Race, nature, and the geography of justice

b. November 4

i. Langewiesche, W. “Jungle Law.” Vanity Fair, May 2007. http://chevrontoxico.com/assets/docs/jungle-law.pdf

ii. Stelter, B. “When Chevron hires ex-reporter to investigate pollution, Chevron looks good.” The New York Times, May 10, 2009.

iii. VIDEO: 60 Minutes piece on Chevron,

iv. VIDEO: Chevron on Chevron,

v. Lecture: Texaco/Chevron on trial

November 5: See “Crude: The Real Price of Oil” at the Boulder International Film Series. Time and loc, TBA.

Part III: A region in flux

November 9: Unit Commentary #2 due

12) Week 12: Urban ecologies

a. November 9

i. Swyngedouw, E. 2004. Social Power and the Urbanization of Water: Flows of Power. “The city in a glass of water.” Pp. 27-50.

ii. Lecture: Urban Ecology

b. November 11

i. Swyngedouw, E., cont’d. Social power and the urbanization of water: flows of power. Pp. 51-115

ii. Lecture: Scarcity and markets

November 16: Research paper topic due. (One page).

13) Week 13: Water, cont’d.

a. November 16

i. Swyngedouw, 116-184 (Finish)

ii. Lecture: Market solutions

November 18: Unit Commentary #4 due

b. November 20 – Water Wars

i. “The Fight for Water and Democracy: An Interview with Oscar Olivera.” 2001. Journal of Public Health Policy 22(2):226-234.

ii. William Finnegan. 2002. “Leasing the Rain.” The New Yorker. April 8, 2002.

iii. Simon Mallaby. 2002. “A Protest Teach-in Spoiled by Facts.” The Washington Post. September 30, 2002; A19.

iv. Lecture: Remaking commons

November 23 – 27 Fall Break

Part IV: What’s next?

14) Week 14: Shifting grounds

a. November 30: Climate Change

i. VIDEO The World Bank. Climate Change, Peru. Available on YouTube.

ii. De la Torre, A, et al. 2009. Low Carbon, High Growth: Latin American responses to climate change. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Preface and pages 1-15; skim the rest.

iii. Lecture: Tropical Glaciers and Climate Change

b. December 2: Carbon Markets and other adaptations

i. If you haven’t read the De la Torre, et al. piece, please do so (no. ii. above)

ii. Wainwright, R. et al. 2008. “From green ideals to REDD money…; a brief history of schemes to save forests and their carbon.” (6 pp.)

iii. Lang, C. 2009. “Brazil’s National Plan on Climate Change and the Amazon Fund.” www.redd-monitor.org

iv. Kaimowitz, D. 2008. “The prospects for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in Mesoamerica.” International Forestry Review, 10(3).

v. Lecture: Making conservation pay (again)?: Ecosystem services and REDD

15) Week 15: Wrap-up

a. December 7: Financial crisis

i. Rhys Jenkins and Enrique Dussel Peters. 2007. “The Impact of China on Latin America and the Caribbean.” Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex. Working Paper 281.

ii. Lecture: The Financial Crisis and the outlook for the future

b. December 9: Debate; 3 positions on “deforestation”

**If you were not in class on Dec. 7, you will be assigned a position to argue at the start of class. Please be sure to review the material below.**

i. “post-development”

ii. “status quo”: keep emphasis on markets, international loans

iii. “de-linking”: focus more on ties with other developing countries rather than US and Europe

iv. Sources

1. Course materials, lectures

2. http://www.redd-monitor.org/

3. REDD, Trick or Treat?

4. Forest Peoples’ Programme, REDD page

5. Nature Conservancy, A Paradox from hell?