AGDK14003U Transnational Actors, Networks and Place Making
MSc programme in Global Development
It is almost impossible today to imagine development at the scale of the nation-state: global flows of people, information, ideas, investments and remittances are now key determinants shaping development at local levels. Development actors are no longer just national governments. Instead, all kinds of transnational actors—from companies to diaspora groups and NGOs—play a prominent role in shaping development agendas, as do the transportation infrastructures, new mobile technologies and social media that facilitate such transnational activity. The “Global North” (North America, Western Europe, Australia and Japan) is no longer taken for granted as a source of inspiration for and funding of models of development: around the BRICS initiative, new discourses of development travel between countries in the Global South (Africa, Latin America and Asia), accompanied by new resource flows, for instance from China and India to Africa. But it is not just the world order that is affected by global flows: established patterns of development between urban centers and rural areas are also being restructured through such flows, resulting in livelihood transitions and new and intensified forms of mobility. In the context of neoliberal governance and increasing securitization, illegal flows moreover start to have a significant impact on development trajectories.
Transnational Actors, Networks and Place Making equips students with the skills to examine development beyond the nation-state, to understand how global flows affect the seeming coherence of previous models of development. It introduces students to global flows that shape development agendas and outcomes locally, with an emphasis on studying not just material but also immaterial flows of ideas, discourses, and new forms of connectivity. As a course that brings geography into conversation with anthropology, students will learn how analytical approaches that emphasize spatiality and relationality can help us understand global flows today.
After completing the course, the student should be able to:
Knowledge
Describe current debates about global flows of people, capital and ideas and how these are influenced by transnational networks and actors.
Grasp how the established pattern of development between urban centers and rural areas as well as between the Global North and South is being restructured resulting in livelihood transitions and new and intensified forms of mobility.
Understand and recognize the importance of changing scales and geographies of development.
Skills
Identify key global flows of people, capital and ideas in, to and from the Global South.
Be able to analyze how global flows shape development agendas and outcomes in given local environments.
Communicate and discuss how global flows and transnational networks and actors challenge the seeming coherence of previous models of development.
Assess the potential impact of global, national and local policies on global flows of people, capital and ideas in, to and from the Global South.
Competences
Process relevant information about global flows and their impact on outcomes in a given local environment.
Analyze, assess and apply results, methods, theory and data in connection with global flows of people, capital and ideas in, to and from the Global South.
Work effectively with cross-disciplinary problems related to transnational actors and the new technologies of connectivity on an individual basis as well as in teams.
- Category
- Hours
- Course Preparation
- 138
- Exam Preparation
- 40
- Lectures
- 14
- Seminar
- 18
- Total
- 210
Course registration is automatic.
This course is fully booked and therefore not open to credit/exchange students.
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Written assignmentOral defence under invigilationOral examination (20 minutes) under invigilation. A week before the exam the students are given a set of questions. At the actual exam the student will randomly pick one of the questions (not knowing which) and will then have 5 minutes to present his/her answer. After the presentation, the student will be examined based on his/her presentation and the syllabus for the course
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
- Re-exam
If you fail an examination, you will be allowed two more attempts to pass the relevant course. The first re-examination will typically be scheduled immediately following the semester (February/August). The second re-examination will typically be scheduled in the following exam period.
In order to contact to sign up for the re-exam please contact Ulla Andersen, ua@samf.ku.dk. You must sign up no later than 14 days before the re-exam date.
Criteria for exam assesment
See 'Learning Outcome'
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- AGDK14003U
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
- 1 semester
- Placement
- Autumn
- Schedule
- See weekplan
- Course capacity
- 60 (Course registration is automatic. This course is only for students at Global Development and is not open to credit/exchange students.)
- Study board
- Study Board for Global Development
Contracting departments
- Department of Anthropology
- Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Social Sciences
Course Coordinators
- Jytte Agergaard (2-6e65446d6b72326f7932686f)
Lecturers
Jytte Agergaard, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource
Management
Stine Krøijer, Department of Anthropology