Courses Taught

The 21st century is simultaneously a time of crisis and opportunity for issues of social justice. This interdisciplinary course will introduce students to the ways in which social movements are informed by and take up gender issues. Students will learn about struggles for economic empowerment, education, health, poverty alleviation, human rights, environmental protection, peace, good governance and political representation.

This course will focus on the intersections between gender, sexuality, development and environmental justice. Feminist and queer theory will be used to interrogate binary categories such as natural/unnatural, nature/culture, normal/abnormal as they relate to our understandings of “the environment.” The course will explore how racism, colonialism, imperialism and other forms of oppression have shaped and continue to shape environmental discourses. We will examine key contemporary environmental issues such as climate change; food security; the “green” economy and low-carbon development; access to water, sanitation and energy; pollution; and wildlife conservation from feminist perspectives. Course materials will include academic and non-academic literature, activist texts as well as case studies, fiction and films.

This course will provide an introduction to the theory and practice of gender and development. Course content is informed by the interests and needs of future scholars and practitioners - i.e. students who hope to engage in research, project design and implementation, policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy and/or networking in development or a closely related domain. A few readings and lectures will be devoted to providing students with a historical perspective on the evolution of the theory of gender and development. The rest of the course will focus almost exclusively on key contemporary gender issues in development. The course seeks to provide students with a strong theoretical and conceptual grounding in gender and development as well as applied skills to work as a development professional. Students will study development policy and learn tools and methodologies that will enable them to pursue careers as gender equality practitioners with the United Nations system, other intergovernmental organizations, development-oriented state agencies, NGOs and other civil society organizations, bilateral and multi-lateral agencies, and private foundations.

This course provides students of International Studies and Geography with a broad understanding and critical perspectives on some of the most visible and challenging issues facing the theory and practice of international development today. The course begins by providing a historical perspective on development and moves on to the causes, implications and consequences of inequality in a globalizing world. The course presents historical perspectives and critiques from both Western and non-Western approaches to development. The course also reviews and analyzes more contemporary literature on political economy, participatory development, postmodernism and gender.

This course provides students with applied skills for the practice of international development at the local, national, regional and global levels. Students study development policy as well as applied tools and methodologies to pursue careers with the United Nations system, development-oriented state agencies, non-profit organizations, bilateral and multi-lateral agencies, and private foundations.

This course provides students with a broad understanding and critical perspectives on some of the most visible and challenging environmental issues facing the planet today. It provides an understanding of wider environmental effects of human activities by linking the physical environment to the political, social and economic contexts within which the issues occur. Examples and case studies from all over the world are used to highlight the underlying human causes behind the problems and to propose innovative technical, political and economic solutions to environmental challenges.

Through the study of ten different world regions, students in this course gain political, social and cultural perspectives on globalization, imperialism, colonialism, and the historical and contemporary relationship of the United States to global relations and processes.

This course introduces students to the social and national politics of India and its neighbours, namely, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives. The main objective of the course is to provide students with a critical grounded understanding of some of the most prominent opportunities and constraints facing India at the present time.