Economic
Development of Asia, Summer 2012
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ECON
3355-01 LEC 17192 Economic Development of Asia, Jun 4, 2012-Aug 8, 2012, room M 115 SPECIAL PROBLEMS: ECON
4198-02 IND 13375 Special Problems Jul 9, 2011-Aug 9, 2012 GRADUATE COURSES: ECON
6355-01 LEC 11675 Economic Development of Asia Jun 4, 2012-Jul 6, 2012 |
Instructor: Dr. Thomas R. DeGregori Ph. (713) 743 3838 (I prefer to receive emails) Office: 209D McElhinney Hall Office hours: TBA |
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Teaching Assistant: Senay Topal sdtopal@uh.edu Office: 248 McElhinney Hall |
Reading for the three
options of which the student chooses one:
and
either
or
·
India/Southeast Asia/Asia option
o
Why Europe Grew
Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600-1850 by Prasannan Parthasarathi,
Cambridge University Press; 2011
ISBN-10: 0521168244ISBN-13: 978-0521168243
o
The British
Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (New Approaches to Economic and
Social History) Robert C. Allen, Cambridge University Press 2009 ISBN-10: 0521687853, ISBN-13: 978-0521687850
o
India's Economic
Transition: The Politics of Reforms (Critical Issues in Indian Politics) by
Rahul Mukherji, Oxford University Press, USA; Reprint
edition 2011
ISBN-10: 0198069677, ISBN-13: 978-0198069676
o
India in the
World Economy: From Antiquity to the Present (New Approaches to Asian History)
by Tirthankar Roy, Cambridge University Press; 2012
ISBN-10: 110740147X, ISBN-13: 978-1107401471
and
either
o
Islamic Science
and the Making of the European Renaissance (Studies in the History of Science
and Technology) by George Saliba The MIT Press, 2011,
ISBN-10: 0262516152, ISBN-13: 978-0262516150
or
o
Southeast Asia in
World History (New Oxford World History) Craig Lockard,
Oxford University Press, 2009
English ISBN-10: 0195338111, ISBN-13:
978-0195338119
I am offering Econ 4198 and
Econ 4398 for Summer 2012 only for those taking Econ
3355. In addition, it is mainly for students intending to graduate in August or
December 2012 who need the hours to graduate in August or will be unable to
complete their fall graduation without the extra hours in summer. I will rely
on the judgment of Marion Foley for the latter determination. Econ 4298 will be
offered only in very strict compliance with the foregoing rules. Students will
not be allowed to take all three courses - Econ 4198, 4298 and 4398.
General guidelines:
THERE WILL BE NO EXAMS OR
QUIZZES.
THERE WILL NOT BE A FINAL
EXAM.
We are offering Econ 3355 Economic Development of Asia, Summer
2012 only in Summer Session 1 – 3355-01, Monday, Wednesday 4:00PM -
6:00PM June 4, 2012-August 8, 2012 in the schedule. And remember that all of the
summer courses of mine are independent study. The best option always is for the
latest date to complete the course so as to give maximum time to do the work.
This announcement supersedes anything in the syllabus that differs with it as
it was composed when the class scheduling was changed after the syllabuses were
completed.
There is ABSOLUTELY no benefit from taking the course in any other summer
session than Session 1. If for example you will be leaving the city or even the
country in July and wish to take it in session 2 for that reason. You can
instead take it in session 1 and turn in your paper whenever it is completed. I
will grade it, record it and then post it to the registrar in August. For those
graduating in August, the grade will be recorded in time for graduation.
Signing-up for session 1 gives you insurance in case you do not finish it
before you leave and need to complete it while away or when you return. If you
complete it away from campus, please arrange in advance to have someone in Houston
to whom you email your paper so he or she can print it out and turn it in. I
have far too many students in summer classes to accept emailed papers.
This is a special problems course that can be taken for 3 hours credit. If you
wish to enroll for less than 3 hours credit, please see Marion Foley in 208B M.
The course will meet on the first day indicated in the schedule for the class
assignments. Attendance is not necessary for those who have downloaded this
syllabus and understand the requirements. You may obtain the books and start
work on your papers as soon as this syllabus is posted in February indicating
that it has been approved for the summer programs.
Graduate credit is more restrictive so that we would have to work out the
research agenda necessary in order to receive credit. Others in the department
may also be offering this course on their own terms. I will only consider this
for students who are taking or who have already taken the graduate course in
Asian Economic Development.
The course can be used in the following study abroad programs:
·
China Study Abroad Program - see Dr. Yali
Zou, FH 450, ext 34982 or Dr. Xiaohong
Wen AH 453 (ext. 3-3072 xwen@uh.edu)
·
India Study Abroad
Program - see Dr. Saleha Khumawala,
MH 360A, ext 3-4829.
·
Southeast Asia Study Abroad Program -
please contact Dr. Long Le (ext. 3-1142, Long.S.Le@mail.uh.edu)
for his trip to Southeast Asia.
·
Vietnam Study Abroad Program - please
contact Dr. Long Le (ext. 3-1142, Long.S.Le@mail.uh.edu)
for his trip to Southeast Vietnam.
Modifications of either
option will be considered if approved by Dr. Zou, Dr.
Khumawala, Dr. Wen, or Dr. Le. As I learn of other
Asian study abroad programs for 2012, I will add the contact persons and post
the information for them.
There were three options for
the course - (1) Focus on China, (2) Focus on India, (3) All of Asia excluding
Japan, Australia and New Zealand. We added a Viet Nam option summer of 2009 as
part of the No. 2 Asian Option. Pick one of the two options and the books that
are assigned with it. Most of the following books are available in paperback.
Buy or otherwise gain access only to the books assigned for your option.
Assignment guidelines:
ALL PAPERS HAVE TO INCLUDE
CITED MATERIAL (source, date and pages cited) FROM THE ASSIGNED READINGS. Every
paragraph in your papers must have at least one cited source unless it is
either drawn from your own experience or is a concluding paragraph. Each paper
should have a separate reference page that does not count towards your page
requirements. You will lose one letter grade for each assigned source that is
not "substantially" used (in other words, used in a way that indicates
an understanding of what the book is saying). This may seem like a rigid
requirement but since there are no exams or quizzes, it is the only way that I
know (or think that I know) that you have done the reading and that the paper
is yours and not found on the web.
YOU MAY USE OTHER RESEARCH MATERIAL AS WELL. IF YOU USE INFORMATION FROM THE
WWW, PLEASE GIVE AS COMPLETE A CITATION AS POSSIBLE INCLUDING THE URL. I have
posted supplementary instructions on my webpage; please consult it and follow
the instructions. You are not allowed to have two paragraphs in a row that use
only non-assigned sources. As a rough rule of thumb, use only sources published
this century unless there is a compelling reason to use an older source. All
material that is not original to you must have a citation. Quotation marks are
required only when you are using someone else's wording. If you are using their
ideas and facts that are put in your own words, you still need to cite the
source but quotation marks would be inappropriate. Please do not start a
sentence with "I feel." Instead use phrases such as "I
conclude" or "it is my judgment based upon the evidence" etc. If
you present solid evidence on an issue and then follow with a rational argument
to reach a conclusion, I will assume that this is not only your conclusion but
it is also how you "feel."
This summer we are doing only
one paper - circa 30+ pages - on one topic with multiple sections or subtopics
or issues to cover:
Northern
Europe historically lagged behind Asia and the Islamic world until about 1400
to 1500 when it experienced a transformation called the Renaissance or rebirth
of the Greco-Roman civilization. This included advances in science and
technology. It has been widely believed and still held today by many historians
that this was largely a European endeavor owing nothing to the outside world.
This view is increasing disputed by scholars with a more global perspective who
argue the science and technologies upon which Europe was building were derived
from Asia - largely China and India - and passed through to the West through
the Islamic (and occasionally Buddhist) cultures of Central Asia and the
Persian and Arab world. This latter is the position of this course and the
reading. If you wish to differ with it, you still have to present it and the
attempt to refute it.
The
view that Asia contributed little or nothing to European development gave rise
to a set of beliefs about poverty and lack of science and technology in Asia
and when Europe passed Asia in development. The following table (take the
numbers as rough estimates) shows that it was not until the Industrial
Revolution that Europe and European populations began to surpass Asian cultures
in per capita manufacturing and it wasn't until the period 100 to 1900 that
European (including countries dominated by European derived populations such as
the United States) development surge way ahead of Asia and the rest of the
world.
The
issue for your papers is what did Asia (or the particular country or area of
your option) contribute to European development and why was Europe able to
build so rapidly and successfully and these contributions while Asia was
changing more slowly and falling behind to succumb to colonial occupation or
influence and either fall into poverty or remain at such a level that we rightfully
call poverty. Clearly sometime in the 18th century Europe forged ahead in
science and technology to the extent that it was often misnamed as Western
Science and Technology implying that science and technology were unique
products of European and European derived populations. What we call
"modern" science and technology as taught and practiced around the
world is very definitively derived from the two or more centuries of European
dominance.
The
same set of beliefs that saw development being a uniquely European attribute,
also considered Asia in the 1950s to be impoverished with little chance of
transformation with the exception of Japan. The cultures and religions Asia
were seen as insurmountable or almost insurmountable barriers to change. Yet
from the 1960s onward we have seen various countries and regions of Asia
transforming themselves with rates of change that would have been understood to
be impossible if forecast in advance. China's transformation began in 1979
followed by India in the 1980s (picking up steam in the 1990s). To what extent
did our views of Asian and European history distort both policies about Asian
development and our ability to understand the continuing basis for this
transformation? To what extent did the prior history of science and technology
in Asia lay the foundation for the transformation of
the region in recent decades? And to what extent does the understandings of
this course contribute to better policies for Asian development by both by the
countries themselves and those working with them in both countries experiencing
rapid change in Asia and those in Asia and elsewhere falling further behind?
Those
in the various Asian study abroad programs who take my Asian Development course
may sign-up for ECON 4198 as field research in Asian Development and get the
same grade for the one hour as they receive for the three hour development
course. Students who take my Asian Development course may also take my
Economics 4398 - Special Problems in Asian Development in which they will add
the books listed under Econ 4398 to their reading for Econ 3355 and do a
combined paper of 40+ pages for the two course together (Econ 3355 and
Econ 4398). Basically, the student will do the same work as for the three
hour graduate course but get six undergraduate hours of credit. Obviously,
this course is restricted to those taking my Asian Development class. Three
books and 10 additional pages is not much work for three hours
credit. I do however expect that the 40 pages will be more in
depth than the 30 page paper.
In
previous offerings of this course, the emphasis of the papers was on the
historical background and explanation why China/India/Asia fell behind Europe
when they had been ahead for so long. This term, given the assigned readings,
this topic should be covered in the first one-third of the paper. The second
third should explore the manner in which this historical background helps us to
understand the rapid growth of China since 1978 or India and Viet Nam since
1990. The last third is will be an analysis of the forces of economic change in
China since 1978 and in India and Viet Nam since 1990. For those adding Econ
4398, the historical background will again be about half the paper (circa 20
pages) and the last two sections will be about 10 to 15 pages long.
1,
2, 3. Northern Europe historically lagged behind Asia and
the Islamic world until about 1400 to 1500 when it experienced a transformation
called the Renaissance or rebirth of the Greco-Roman civilization. The issue
for your papers is what did Southeast Asia (or the particular country or area
of your option) contribute to European development and why was Europe able to
build so rapidly and successfully and these contributions while Asia was
changing more slowly and falling behind to succumb to colonial occupation or
influence and either fall into poverty or remain at such a level that we
rightfully call poverty.
This
section will be covered in considerably less detail than those doing the China
or India options will be expected to do. China will be used as a proxy for Viet
Nam and to some extent India can be used as a proxy for the rest of Southeast
Asia. The student who wishes to do the additional reading in also taking my
Econ 4398 course will use that addition for major coverage of this topic as
provided in more detail in the syllabus.
