Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Chris Vasantkumar chris.vasantkumar@mq.edu.au Payel Ray payel.ray@mq.edu.au
Credit points	Credit points 10
Prerequisites	Prerequisites 130cp at 1000 level or above
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description Why are some countries rich and others poor? Why do billions live on less than $5 a day while the 26 richest billionaires together own as much wealth as the poorest 50 percent of the planet’s people? What, if anything, should we do about this? This unit tackles these questions anthropologically, focusing on international aid as a key means of closing the gap between rich and poor. We will focus on a number of key topics. Specifically, we will explore the history of global poverty and economic inequality, the emergence of human rights as a key vocabulary for staking claims to economic equality, and the complexity of the relationship between culture and development, examining in some detail the ways in which culture can both impede and aid development projects. Finally, we will pay some critical attention to why programs designed to help people in the developing world have sometimes fallen short of their intended goals.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

ULO1: Analyse and articulate how and why international aid remains such a contested arena within international relations and such a problematic context for altruistic notions of help.
ULO2: Read widely and actively participate in discussions concerning interactions between development agencies and target communities within the developing world and thereby gain a detailed picture of what international aid entails.
ULO3: Learn to think critically and reflexively about recent debates informing development, the motivations behind international aid, what makes development assistance successful in improving lives and/or why there are often difficulties in achieving this.
ULO4: Examine the social outcomes that emerge from programs of international aid by looking beyond the rhetoric and developing an appreciation of the complex factors that influence these outcomes.
ULO5: Demonstrate command of anthropological knowledge and theories relevant to international aid.

General Assessment Information

Late Submission Policy

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue. This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (incl essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic.

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Hurdle	Due
Take-home exam	30%	No	02/06/2024
Quizzes	10%	No	Thursdays, 23:55 -- quizzes start week 2
Essay 2	30%	No	13/05/2024
Essay 1	15%	No	25/03/2024
Participation	15%	No	Thursdays, 23:55 -- Forums start week 2

Take-home exam

Assessment Type ¹: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task ²: 10 hours
Due: 02/06/2024
Weighting: 30%

This assessment entails two short essays based on assigned questions.