Introductory description

Examines the global policy frameworks for culture, arts and development: the ideas, aspirations, ethics and policy strategies for using the arts, culture and creative industries within human, social and urban development. In this module, we will explore the place of culture, art and creative enterprise within the global discourses of Sustainable Development. We will assess how development projects have always had a ‘cultural’ dimension, whether this has been acknowledged or not. We use case studies to look at how global ideas and policies are interpreted "on the ground" — using business enterprise, arts curating and administration, project management and political protest.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

We will begin by tracing the emergence of theories of both ‘development’ (especially since World War Two) and ‘cultural development’ (since the 1960s), with particular attention to the global institutional field within which these discourses have taken shape (notably around the UN system). We will then focus on a number of key issues around which cultural development debates have crystallized: world heritage, international trade in cultural goods, cultural rights, and the creative economy. We will assess the extent to which the paradigm of ‘human development’ as conceptualized by authors such as Sen and Nussbaum, and promoted by agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), provides a fertile framework within which to consider relations between culture and development. We will conclude with a critical overview of the available indicators of global trends in cultural development.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• To possess a theoretical overview of the global discourse of International Development aid in the context of global development and local sustainability.
• To use the conceptual tools required to understand policy and strategy documents, and apply these to an examination of strategic practice in Development projects
• To analyse, evaluate and present the key arguments and strategic claims of actors in the field of International Development.
• Using the arts and culture as key tools, to generate ideas and creative solutions to existing or potential Development situations.

Indicative reading list

Barry, A., Osborne, T., and Rose, N. (1993) ‘Liberalism, Neoliberalism and Governmentality: an Introduction’, Economy and Society, 22: 265-6.
Blunt, A. and McEwan, C. eds. (2002) Postcolonial Geographies, London: Continuum.
Cowan, M., and Shenton, R. (1997) Doctrines of Development, London: Routledge.
Kothari, U. and Minogue, M. eds. (2002) Critical Perspectives in Development Theory and Practice, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Kingsbury, D., McKay, J., Hunt, J., McGillivray, M., and Clarke, M. (2012) International Development: issues and challenges (Second edition), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Leftwich, A. ed. (1996) Democracy and Development: theory and practice, Cambridge: Polity. McMichael, P. (2012) Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, London: Sage. UNCTAD – UNESCO (2009) The Power of Culture for Development, Paris: UNESCO.

Subject specific skills

Research, writing, case study research and discourse analysis. Knowledge: we gain knowledge of the arts, culture and development, the nature of artistic production around the world, and the function of enterprise in generating social innovation and sustainable community.

Transferable skills

Critical Thinking: we will understand the way ‘development’ situations are created by social, political and cultural conditions, and we devise creative approaches to solving problems in these situations. Professional skills: we define and learn entrepreneurship skills in creative solution-building, in mapping and planning, in strategy, management and organisation.