Contemporary Literature: Literature, Development, and Human Rights

Course Features

• Selected lecture notes
• Assignments: written (no examples)

Course Description

Central to our era is the gradual movement of all the world's regions toward a uniform standard of economic and political development. In this class we will read a variety of recent narratives that partake of, dissent from, or contribute to this story, ranging from novels and poems to World Bank and IMF statements and National Geographic reports. We will seek to understand the many motives and voices – sometimes congruent, sometimes clashing – that are currently engaged in producing accounts of people in the developing world: their hardships, laughter, and courage, and how they help themselves and are helped by outsiders who may or may not have philanthropic motives. Readings will include literature by J. G. Ballard, Jamaica Kincaid, Rohinton Mistry, and John le Carré, as well as policy documents, newspaper and magazine articles, and the Web sites of a variety of trade and development commissions and organizations.

Other OCW Versions

OCW has published multiple versions of this subject.

• 21L.488 Contemporary Literature: British Novels Now (Spring 2007)
• 21L.488 Contemporary Literature (Spring 2003)

Course Collections

See related courses in the following collections:

Find Courses by Topic

• Literature
• The Developing World
• Philosophy > Political Philosophy
• Sociology > Social Justice
• Literature > Criticism