Essay Assignment
The First Essay assignment (Maximum 3 pages). This assignment is a think piece, designed to ensure that you have kept up with the readings and lectures and thought carefully about the issues raised in both. Write an essay, drawing from lectures and required readings in sessions 6 10 to 8 inclusive, on one of the following topics. You must draw material from at least two sessions for this essay. 1. “Fanon and the postcolonial thinkers dealt with in the lectures and readings in session 6 argue that Western knowledge about the Global South is a form of oppression and a source of misery in the Global South. Although this perspective has important drawbacks, it makes an important contribution to our understanding of the problems faced by the Global South.” You can agree, disagree or partially agree with this statement. 2. “The ‘politics of survival’ as described by Joel Migdal is a result of European conquest and colonial rule.” Discuss. You can agree, disagree or partially agree with this statement. 3. The regions of the Global South colonized by Europe are widely believed to have “weak” and corrupt states. Write an essay explaining what accounts for the weakness of many Global South states, particularly when contrasted with the experience of the Global North and Taiwan and South Korea.
