User:Msrasnw/Development studies - A preamble

Development studies is the study of the processes of economic and social change - devlopemnt - in the developing countries. These processes can be looked at in As such it involves all the disciplines of the social sciences.

LSE "Development Studies has to take account of the considerable disciplinary range and of the necessary engagement with economics. Anyone who wishes successfully to undertake research or practical work in the field of development needs to have a high level of competence in one of the core disciplines and also be open to approaches from neighbouring disciplines, partly through familiarity with various frameworks and key concepts, through which it has been sought to integrate different perspectives on central problems of social development and change. This is what the MSc programme aims to achieve. It offers high quality academic training for development studies, examining the importance of contemporary theory in the social sciences for the policy and practice of development. This degree is intended for those with experience of work in development in government and non-governmental organizations as administrators, planners or technical specialists, for those who wish to take up such work and also for those who intend undertaking research on development problems (for whom it will provide an appropriate preparation for a doctoral programme). Recent graduates are already employed in responsible positions in Government, NGOs, international firms and banks.," http://www2.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/study/mscDevelopmentStudies.aspx

UEA ''"Interdisciplinarity in DEV or What is interdisciplinarity and why does DEV value this so much?


 * Definition. Interdisciplinarity is a set of experiences, skills and critical approaches that allow lecturers to understand development issues simultaneously by integrating a variety of disciplinary viewpoints (economics, social, political and environmental) and methodologies (e.g. modelling, social inquiry, theory). - Disciplinary values.  DEV’s philosophy is that ‘development problems’ do not arise from single causes and cannot be solved by single solutions.  While this observation is held widely by many development departments and lecturers, their teaching and research often continues to be along disciplinary and multi-disciplinary lines.  Because of the way DEV is constituted and through who we appoint to our staff, we have deep and abiding interdisciplinary principles.  Nevertheless, we also strongly believe that our disciplinary strengths amongst staff (with considerable training in anthropology, economics, engineering etc) is a vital part of our grounded teaching and research, and is a well-spring for meaningful interdisciplinarity.


 * We can explain this through an example. A natural scientist in another university department might continue to teach students how water allocation might be computed for different sectors as a part of a natural resources module using the normal procedures.   In DEV we go further, so while we might address this as a method, we capture the problem of water allocation in political and institutional terms as well.  In addition, we show that many natural scientific methods often taken to be ‘normal’ and fixed, are themselves open for further interpretation.


 * Teaching approach. In our teaching we carefully tailor both individual modules and arrays of modules within a degree course to expose students to disciplinary ideas (combining to form a multidisciplinary package) and to interdisciplinary ideas of how natural science, economic science, social and political science are all required to characterise and understand developmental and environmental problems." http://www.uea.ac.uk/dev/about/interdisciplinarity

Bernstein, H. (2006) ‘Studying Development/Development Studies’ African Studies 65(1), pp. 45-62.

An introduction to DS should then provide an intro to each of the discplines in such a way as to

Disciplines by themselves Interdisciplinary Cross disncplianry

Disciplines themelsves differ between them methodocoly modeloing rigour ideoligy

Look at something about each displine John Harriss, The Case for Cross-Disciplinary Approaches in International Development, World Development, Volume 30, Issue 3, March 2002, Pages 487-496, ISSN 0305-750X, DOI: 10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00115-2. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VC6-44TCXS3-1/2/96b795a1a6a99fdfa4a4b310e38f588c) Keywords: development studies; theory; methods

TY - JOUR T1 - The Case for Cross-Disciplinary Approaches in International Development JO - World Development VL - 30 IS - 3 SP - 487 EP - 496 PY - 2002/3// T2 - AU - Harriss, John SN - 0305-750X M3 - doi: DOI: 10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00115-2 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VC6-44TCXS3-1/2/96b795a1a6a99fdfa4a4b310e38f588c KW - development studies KW - theory KW - methods ER -


 * http://www.developmentinpractice.org/reviews/international-development-studies-theories-and-methods-research-and-practice

International Development Studies: Theories and Methods in Research and Practice Author: Sumner, Andy;  Tribe, Michael; Publisher: London: Sage, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4129-2944-8, 167 pp.