BSc International Disaster Management & Humanitarian Response

• Find out more from student finance
• Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
• Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
• Many students work part-time or complete a student internship

The overarching aim of the course is to prepare students to theoretically and empirically investigate how development relates to disasters. For decades the idea of “Development” has been the concern of economists, political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists, to name just a few. Disaster risk management, in turn, was for decades seen as a field that is separate from development. This course critically unpacks this assumption/omission, and examines how development and disasters are closely intertwined. This course conceptualises disasters as a symptom of underdevelopment and links key development theories, issues and challenges to the causes, consequences and responses to disasters. The course takes an applied, interdisciplinary approach to some of the “big questions” in our field: What does development mean? How do we do development? Who defines development? The first half of the course in particular focuses on exploring what development is and what it means to be ‘doing development’. Students will look at whether or not development should focus on economic growth or inequality, on state-led or market-led development. The second half of the course goes in depth to explore key challenges to development, and illustrates these themes through case studies and the role of communities in their own development and disaster risk reduction. Other important themes covered include colonialism, neoliberalism, gender, participation, non-governmental organisations, among others, as important drivers of and approaches to development and disaster risk reduction.

 

 

On successful completion of this module, a student will be expected to be able: - To critically understand the interface between development and disasters; To interrogate what development means and how it is practiced overtime and in different contexts; To understand the intended and unintended consequences of various forms of development interventions and how they shape disaster risks and risk reduction; To understand the role of key international and local actors and agencies in development and disaster risk reduction

On successful completion of this module, a student will be expected to be able:

• To critically understand the interface between development and disasers; 
• To interrogate what development means and how it is practicsed over time and in different contexts; 
• To understand the intended and unintended consequences of various forms of development interventions and how they shape disaser risk and risk reduction; 
• To understand the role of key international and local actors and agencies in development and disaster risk reduction. 

The supplementary methods used in the provision of teaching and learning on this course unit should be identified here. This is additional to that identified by the Scheduled Activity Hours and Assessment Methods fields. It is a University requirement that all course units must conform to Blackboard minimum requirements. These can be found at: http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/blackboard/strategy.html General information can be found on the Faculty of Humanities e-learning web pages: http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/ Descriptors should confirm that the course unit will provide information to at least Blackboard minimum requirements and, where relevant, provide further information on the use of Blackboard within the course unit. The principal teaching and learning methods will be the lecture (an interactive experience) and the tutorials. These would be supplemented by guided and independent reading and assignments designed to encourage students to engage with course material in meaningful ways. The module will be team-taught by experts in the different areas discussed The module will be Blackboard compliant.

• Deepen critical appraisal
• Appreciate differing methodological/conceptual perspectives
• Link theoretical/conceptual material with case study material

• Writing academic essays -
• Preparing and delivering presentations 
• Debating and discussing

• Working autonomously
• Working in teams
• Respecting different views
• Giving feedback to others

 

Assessment Task	Formative or Summative	Weighting within unit
Assessed group presentation (based on the idea of development-disaster nexus)	Summative	30%
Essay (based on 3-4 multiple choice questions/mini-cases)	Summative	70%

Feedback method	Formative or Summative
Informal verbal feedback during lectures and workshops. Additional one-to-one feedback (during office hours or by making an appointment) Formative feedback on essay plan (up to 1000 words)	Formative
Written feedback on the presentations Written feedback on the essay	Summative

Achebe, C. (1986). Things fall apart. Heinemann. 

Bankoff, G., Frerks, G., & Hilhorst, D. (2004). Mapping vulnerability: Disasters, development, and people. London: Earthscan.Chambers, R. (1997). Whose reality counts? : putting the first last. Practical Action Publishing.Chari, Sharad, and Stuart Corbridge. 2007. The development reader. Routledge 

Cowen, M.P. and R.W. Shenton 1996. Doctrines of Development. London: Routledge

Deaton, Angus. 2013. The Great Escape: Health, Wealth and the Origins of Inequality. Princeton: Princeton University Press 

Desai, V., & Potter, R. B. (2014). The companion to development studies (3rd edition.). Routledge. 

Escobar, A. (2012). Encountering development : the making and unmaking of the Third World. Princeton University Press. 

Kothari, U. (2005). A radical history of development studies : individuals, institutions and ideologies. Zed Books. (e-book available via the Manchester U Library)

Sen, A. K. (1999). Development as freedom (1st ed.). Knopf. (e-book available via the Manchester U Library) UNISDR 2000: Living with Risk, A global review of disaster reduction initiatives. http://www.undp.org/cpr/disred/documents/publications/isdr_livingwithrisk2002.pdf,