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7 Global Debt & Justice SC 1xx & PO xxx: Spring 2016 Dr. Mindy Peden (PO) and Dr. Wendy Wiedenhoft Murphy (SC) ************************************************************************ Mindy: Office Hours: TBA Office Phone: Office Location: Administration Building B05 (Political Science Department) Wendy: Office Hours: TBA Office Phone: Office Location: 3 rd floor AD building in Sociology Department wwiedenhoft@jcu.edu Required Texts Han, Clara. Life in Debt: Times of Care and Violence in Neoliberal Chile. Berkeley: University of California Press, Joseph, Miranda. Debt to Society. University of Minnesota Press, Toussaint, Eric and Damien Millet. Debt, the IMF and the World Bank. New York: Monthly Review Press, All other course readings may be accessed through Canvas. Course Description This course examines debt from an interdisciplinary perspective, including how different religions and cultures understand debt, interest, profit, and obligation. Social inequalities in terms of accessing credit as well as living with debt will be addressed. The political economy of debt will be explored through the creditor/debtor relationships between nation-states and international institutions, including the IMF and World Bank. Debt justice movements, such as Jubilees, forgiveness, and reparations will be discussed in addition to the possibility of living a life free from debt. Learning Objectives By the end of this course students will: 1. Identify, understand and explicate several different cultural and historical approaches to debt in relation to each other.

8 2. Be able to articulate how debt is a social relationship that involves reciprocal power by reference to a contemporary global event/story. 3. Understand and express the structure of sovereign global debt as it is produces by relationships between international organizations and states seeking loans. 4. Express in written form the micro effects of institutionalized global debt in one location (Chile) through ethnographic insight by linking this one case to the various disciplinary approaches to debt. This course is designated EGC (Engaging the Global Community) for the integrated core curriculum. As such its learning objectives are also for each student to: 1. Demonstrate integrative knowledge of the human and natural worlds. 2. Communicate skillfully in multiple forms of expression (writing). 3. Act competently in a global and diverse world. Course Rationale This course will integrate sociological, political, economic, religious, cultural, and historical understandings of debt. It takes the widespread contemporary problem of debt and situates its within historical and anthropological understandings of the concept of debt; asks what the social and political meanings of debt are; examines the process of codifying a particular understanding of debt in international financial institutions; investigates the micro effects of debt in Chile, and explores how social justice movements have articulated solutions to the debt crisis all over the world. This course is co-taught by a social theorist and a political theorist, both of whom have experience and expertise in integrating interdisciplinary work. The integration of the course was achieve by careful and dialogical course planning and will be executed by both faculty being present at every class and teaching together. The instructors have co-taught classes in this format before and are comfortable preparing short introductions for each class to be followed by student-centered discussions based of discussion questions on the reading that two students will prepare for the day. This method allows for a well-integrated an fluid class experience. Course Organization This course is organized as a seminar. This means that we will be expecting you to direct class discussions. For this seminar to work you must read all assigned materials prior to each class and bring a hard or electronic copy of all reading materials with you to each class. We view our role in the classroom as follows: to ensure that the main arguments of each of the authors we read are clearly stated and understood to provide historical/conceptual background information on the assigned readings to maintain a positive classroom atmosphere where no one feels embarrassed to speak their mind or ask questions

9 to keep the entire class on track by providing introductory and concluding remarks to answer any questions you may have Course Policies You are responsible for all material covered in class including lectures, readings, discussions, and films. Furthermore, you are responsible for obtaining any information, assignments, etc. you may have missed if you skip a class. Attendance: Mandatory! We will take attendance daily. If you miss 5 or more classes, your final grade will be dropped by one grade level (ie: from a B to B-). If you miss 10 or more classes you will receive an FA (failure because of excessive absence) for your final grade. These absences are inclusive of all issues sports, illness, funerals, travel, and service projects. You are expected to pay attention during class not do homework for another class, send text messages, or check social media. You can use a tablet or laptop to access the assigned readings in class or bring hard copies. Written Work: All work that you turn into must be typed and stapled (if necessary). Please make sure that you include your name and title of the assignment on all your work. We will not accept any work via without prior permission. Make-up Work: To receive full credit for any assignment it must be turned in by the deadline indicated on the syllabus. If you miss a class, you must contact us before the class session in order to obtain permission to turn in any assignments late or make up any exams that you missed. Incompletes: Incompletes will only be given when you are otherwise passing the course, but cannot complete it due to some unforeseen circumstances beyond your control. Holidays: If you observe religious holidays that conflict with any of the course assignments, please let us know in writing within the first week of the semester. Academic Honesty: Academic honesty, expected of every student, is essential to the process of education and to upholding high ethical standards. Cheating, including plagiarism, inappropriate use of technology, or any other kind of unethical behavior, may subject the student to severe academic penalties, including dismissal. All work submitted for evaluation in a course, including tests, term papers, and computer programs, must represent only the work of the student unless indicated otherwise. Material taken from the work of others must be acknowledged. Materials submitted to fulfill requirements in one course may not be submitted in another course without prior approval of the instructor(s) (Undergraduate Bulletin). If you are caught plagiarizing an assignment in this class, you will receive a zero for that assignment and will not be permitted to make-up the assignment.

10 Students with Disabilities: In accordance with federal law, if you have a documented disability, you may be eligible to request accommodations from the office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD). Please contact the Director at or come to the office located in room 7A, in the Garden Level of the Administration Building. Please keep in mind that accommodations are not retroactive, so it is best to register at your earliest convenience. Statement on Mutual Respect, Discrimination and Bias: John Carroll University is committed to fostering ethical and moral values that are consistent with Jesuit and Catholic traditions. Among the central values of the University are the inherent dignities of every individual as well as the right of each person to hold and to express his or her viewpoint. When these views conflict it is the obligation of members of the community to respect other perspectives. The University welcomes students, faculty, staff, and visitors from diverse backgrounds and it works to ensure that they will find the University environment free of discriminatory conduct. It is unacceptable and a violation of University policy to harass, abuse, or discriminate against any person because of age, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or disability. Furthermore, each member of the JCU community is expected to take an active role in fostering an appreciation for diversity and inclusion and sending the message that bias-related acts will not be tolerated. Bias is defined as intentional or unintentional actions targeting a person because of a real or perceived aspect of that person s identity, including (though not limited to) age, gender, religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, or (dis)ability. All bias incidents, including those occurring in the classroom, should be reported using the JCU Bias Reporting System at Questions about the Bias Reporting System or bias incidents may be directed to Dr. Terry Mills, Assistant Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, at tmills@jcu.edu or (216) For more information about University policies and community standards for appropriate conduct, please refer to the Dean of Students web page at For more information about the University commitment to diversity and inclusion, please see Course Requirements Exams: There will be 3 essays: Essay 1: 15% Essay one will ask students to address how the diverse histories of cultural understandings of debt have solidified into the economistic conception of debt under what is often called neoliberalism. In this essay they will be ask to explicate several anthropological understandings and explain how they both reinforce and disrupt what we might call the hegemonic notion of debt as economic or a relationship with money. This essay will be assigned at the end of the first third of the course, where students will be studying debt relationships from an anthropological standpoint (Graeber), a literary standpoint (Atwood), a religious standpoint (Ali et al), and an institutional standpoint (the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as studied in Toussaint and Millet). These disciplinary approaches will be tied together by two theoretical pieces that situate debt morally in two different ways.one by underscoring debt as a moral relationship

11 and the other that transvalues the accounting of debt to include non-monetary valuations. The learning outcome of this assignment is that as a result of writing this paper they will gain an understanding of the hegemonic notion of debt under existing international institutions is not the only way to formulate the relationships between the world economy and the people of the world (especially poor people). Essay 2: 20 % Essay two will ask students to explain why debt is a justice issue and propose an interpretation of various debt related global movements. This essay will be assigned at the end of the second third of the course, which will focus on proposed solutions to the problems with sovereign debt in particular by appeals to justice. The readings for this part of the course will examine not only differing conceptions of what counts as justice for debtors/creditors, but also two particular situations in which the relationship between debtor and creditor breaks down: the environment and student loans. Essay 3: 30% Essay three will ask students to revisit the first two essays in light of the ethnographic study of people who live in scopes of debt in Chile. In this essay they must explain economic, social, political, and religious dimensions of the debt experience and propose what would count as justice given all they have learned. This essay will be a cumulative reflection on the course using the in-depth case study of Chile that we read in class. In the last portion of the course we will pursue an understanding of they myriad experiences of debt in Chile after Pinochet; particular attention will be paid to the role of gender and, again, to possible alternatives to the current system. Discussion Questions: 10%. Each student will be expected to lead class discussion two times during the semester (in addition to 1/22 when everyone will bring in discussion questions). When it is your turn to lead discussion you should come to class with 3 discussion questions. These questions should attempt to make links between various ideas in the text and course. Discussions questions should not be easily answered with yes or no responses. The best questions will provoke disagreement or challenge the class to think beyond the framework of the text. Questions must be typed out and turned in on your assigned discussion days. At least 1 out of your 3 discussion questions must include a direct citation from the day s assigned reading. This direct citation must be put in quotations and include the author s name and page number where the quote is located. Sample Discussion Question written by a former student: In 1954, Swanson introduced the first T.V. dinner a highly processed all-in-one platter containing turkey with cornbread dressing and gravy, sweet potatoes and butter peas. Husbands angry that their wives no longer cooked from scratch deluged the company with hate mail, but the culture of convenience rolled out like a juggernaut (Honore, pg. 56). Do we as a society criticize new developments that ease the workload of women such as quicker meals more than those of men such as power tools? Why? What does this say about gender relations in our society? News Presentation Day: 10%. You will be required to bring in a synopsis of a news article (with full bibliographic citation) on an assigned day that pertains to issues

12 discussed in class. For this assignment students will report on an international event or story that relates to the themes in the course. The student will be asked to prepare a written summary of the story and how it relates in addition to be asked to articulate verbally this connection to the whole class. In-Class Participation: 10%. It is expected that you come to each class session prepared to engage in a discussion of the assigned reading material. Participation is active engagement, not just showing up for class. Grading Breakdown 100%-94%: A 86%-83%: B 76%-73%: C 66%-63%: D 93%-90%: A- 82%-80%: B- 72%-70%: C- 62%-60%: D- 89%-87%: B+ 79%-77%: C+ 69%-67%: D+ Below 60%: F Help Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments, or problems with this class. I am always interested in hearing student comments especially how the course is going for you personally.

13 Reading / Assignment / Exam Schedule: 1/20 (Wed.) First Day of Class 1/22 (Fri.) BBC Radio: Graeber, The Moral Power of Debt Graeber, What is Debt? *everyone brings in discussion questions* 1/25 (Mon.) Atwood: The Shadow Side, pgs /27 (Wed.) BBC Radio: Graeber, The Theology of Debt Atwood: Debt and Sin, pgs /29 (Fri.) Ali et al: Islamic Perspective on Profit Maximization 2/1 (Mon.) Polletta and Tufail: The Moral Obligations of Some Debts 2/3 (Wed.) Miranda, Chap 1. Accounting for Debt 2/5 (Fri.) Miranda, Chap 1 continued 2/8 (Mon.) News Presentation Day 2/10 (Wed.) Toussaint and Millet: Human Rights, Development and Debt 2/12 (Fri.) Toussaint and Millet: The Origin of the Debt in Developing Countries 2/15 (Mon.) Toussaint and Millet: The Debt Crisis 2/17(Wed.) Toussaint and Millet: IMF, WB, Logic of Structural Adjustment 2/19 (Fri.) Film: Structural Adjustment 2/22 (Mon.) Mohan: Contested Sovereignty and Democratic Contradictions 2/24 (Wed.) News Presentation Day 2/26 (Fri.) Exam 1 Due Spring Break 3/7 (Mon.) Miranda Chap. 2: Accounting for Justice 3/9 (Wed.) Miranda Chap. 2: Accounting for Justice 3/11 (Fri.) Ross: Honoring Climate Debts

14 3/14 (Mon.) Debt-for-Nature Swap 3/16 (Wed.) News Presentation Day 3/18 (Fri.) Toussaint and Millet: Deciphering the Official Discourse on Debt Relief 3/21 (Mon.) Toussaint and Millet: The Case for Canceling the Debt of Developing Countries 3/23 (Wed.) Toussaint and Millet: Issues Raised by Canceling the Debt of Developing Countries Easter Break 3/30 (Wed.) Film: Ivory Tower 4/1 (Fri.) Ross: Student loans 4/4 (Mon.) Exam 2 4/6 (Wed.) Film: Pinochet 4/8 (Fri.) Han: Introduction 4/11 (Mon.) Han: Chap. 1 4/13 (Wed.) Han: Chap 2 4/15 (Fri.) News Presentation Day 4/18 (Mon.) Miranda: Chap. 4 Accounting for Gender 4/20 (Wed.) Han: Chap 3 4/22 (Fri.) Han: Chap 4 4/25 (Mon.) Han: Chap 5 4/27 (Wed.) News Presentation Day 4/29 (Fri.) Han: Chap 6 5/2 (Mon.) Toussaint and Millet: Constructing Radical Alternatives 5/4 (Wed.) Last Day of Class