Contemporary Literature: Literature, Development, and Human Rights

Readings

Required Texts

Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2000. ISBN: 9780374527075.

Ballard, J. G. Rushing to Paradise. New York, NY: Picador USA, 1995. ISBN: 9780312131647.

Le Carre, John. The Constant Gardener. New York, NY: Scribner, 2000. ISBN: 9780743215053.

Wa Thiong’o, Ngugi. Petals of Blood. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2005. ISBN: 9780143039174.

Fielding, Helen. Cause Celeb. New York, NY: Penguin, 2002. ISBN: 9780670891955.

Mistry, Rohinton. A Fine Balance. New York, NY: Knopf, 1996. ISBN: 9780679446088.

Guide to Close Reading (PDF)

Suggested Additional Reading

Edwards, Michael. “The Irrelevance of Development Studies.” Third World Quarterly 11 (1989): 116-135.

Sen, Amartya. “The Ends and the Means of Development.” Development As Freedom. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 35-53. ISBN: 9780375406195.

Slaughter, Joseph. “Enabling Fictions and Novel Subjects: The Bildungsroman and International Human Rights Law.” PMLA 121, no. 5 (2006).

Roe, Emily. “Development Narratives, Or Making the Best of Blueprint Development.” World Development 19, no. 4 (1991): 287-300.

Benjamin, Bret. “Success Stories: NGOs and the Banking Bildungsroman.” Invested Interests: Capital, Culture, and the World Bank. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2007, pp. 135-164. ISBN: 9780816648733.

Agamben, Giorgio. “A Brief History of the State of Exception.”

———. “Form of Life.” Means Without End: Notes on Politics. Translated by Vincenzo Binetti and Cesare Casarino. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2000, pp. 3-14. ISBN: 9780816630356.

———. “Beyond Human Rights.” Means Without End: Notes on Politics. Translated by Vincenzo Binetti and Cesare Casarino. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2000, pp. 15-28. ISBN: 9780816630356.

Readings by Session

All readings should be completed prior to their discussion.

Lec #	TOPICS/READINGS
1	Introduction
2	“The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid”
3	“The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid” (cont.)
4	Climate change symposium
5	“The Fortunate Traveller”
6	“The Fortunate Traveller” (cont.)
7	A Fine Balance, I-III
8	Essay workshop
9	A Fine Balance (cont.), IV-XI Class meets w/o professor B
10	A Fine Balance (cont.), XII-end
11	A Small Place
12	A Small Place (cont.) / Life and Debt (film)
13	Rushing to Paradise, to p. 91
14	Review session
15	Rushing to Paradise (cont.), to p. 168
16	Rushing to Paradise (cont.), all
17	The Constant Gardener, pp. 1-135
18	The Constant Gardener (cont.), pp. 136-322
19	The Constant Gardener (cont.), pp. 323-end
20	Petals of Blood, part I
21	Petals of Blood (cont.), parts I-III
22	Petals of Blood (cont.), all
23	World bank and National Geographic narratives Wachera, Becky, and Matthew Meyer. Sole Comfort Dot-Com. Additional Readings Scofield, John, and Raghubir Singh. “Bombay: The Other India.” National Geographic 160 (July 1981): 104-129. Grove, Noel, and Stevel Raymer. “The Caribbean: Sun, Sea and Seething.” National Geographic 159 (February 1981): 244-271. Swerdlow, Joel. “Global Culture.” National Geographic 196 (August 1999): 2-33. Hines-Smith, Leone M. “The Jamaica Trade Point Story: From Stress To Success.”
24	Cause Celeb, to p. 175
25	Cause Celeb (cont.), to end
26	Wrapping up