Module POC3103 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC3103: The Resource Paradox: Blessing or Curse?
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
Module Aims
This module aims to enable you:
- To introduce mainstream and critical understanding about the relationship between resources and development from an international perspective
- To link theory to a range of case studies and give students opportunity to research contemporary empirical cases
- To familiarize students with an inter-disciplinary literature which engages the social, political and economic impacts of resource extraction and resource conflict across the globe
- To challenge and engage with complex empirical cases from a range of levels of analysis
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
---|---|
Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge about resource extraction and resource conflict, with reference to state of the art theoretical debate as well as empirical examples 2. Demonstrate in depth understanding of debates about international concepts of and approaches to development, and criticism of them |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Assimilate taught materials and utilize them to critically analyse and evaluate conflict case studies 4. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of major political theories and understandings of how to apply them to empirical case studies identified in the course 5. Synthesise a range of literatures 6. Demonstrate knowledge of theoretical arguments within a significant sub-sector of academic and practitioner interest |
Personal and Key Skills | 7. Research and write critically and analytically 8. Communicate complex arguments effectively through written submissions intended for a range of audiences 9. Communicate and defend stakeholder positionality |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics:
- Ethical consumption
- The resource curse and political economy
- Major theories about the relationship between resources and development
- Indigenous peoples and land conflict
- Case studies
- Conflict minerals
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 22 | 11 x 2 hour seminars |
Guided Independent Study | 60 | For directed reading and completing formative assignment |
Guided Independent Study | 6 | For completing the media briefing |
Guided independent study | 14 | For preparing the presentation and debate |
Guided independent study | 48 | For completing the research essay |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Antipode
Development in Practice
Development and Change
Environment and Planning
Extractive Industries and Society
Geoforum
Third World Quarterly
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Research essay outline | 300 words | 1-8 | Written or verbal |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Media Briefing Paper | 30 | 1200 words | 2-7, 9 | Written |
Research Essay | 70 | 3000 words | 1-8 | Written |
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Media Briefing Paper | 1200 word media briefing paper | 2-7 | August/September reassessment period |
Research Essay | 3000 word research essay | 1-8 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic reading:
Hilson, G. and Clifford, M.J., 2010. A ‘Kimberley protest’: Diamond mining, export sanctions, and poverty in Akwatia, Ghana. African Affairs, 109(436), pp.431-450.
Kirsch, S., 2007. Indigenous movements and the risks of counterglobalization: tracking the campaign against Papua New Guinea's Ok Tedi mine. American ethnologist, 34(2), pp.303-321.
Nash, J.C., 1993. We eat the mines and the mines eat us: Dependency and exploitation in Bolivian tin mines. Columbia University Press.
Watts, M., 2009. Oil, development, and the politics of the bottom billion. Macalester International, 24(1), p.11.