Part 8: Urban and Social Issues
Nov 24 (M) - Urbanization: Processes, Morphology, Economies
- Describe how Africa compares to other world region in terms of degree and rate of urbanization
- Identify 2 pushes and 2 pulls behind urbanization
- Describe 2 key similarities in the morphology of pre-colonial African and pre-industrial European cities
- Describe the 2 key differences in the morphology of post-colonial African and modern European cites
- Describe 2-3 key distinguishing features of elite, middle and low income housing
- Describe how strategies to address urban slums has chained over time, highlighting approaches and their failures in the 50-60’s (public housing), 70’s (site and service), 80-90’s (upgrading), and current trends
- Describe the difference between the informal and formal economies, and describe the degree to which Africa is dependent upon the former
- Explain 2-3 reasons why the informal sector is beneficial, and detrimental, to Africa
- Exemplify the strong urban-rural linkages that characterize African cities and economies
- Explain why urban residents are more “vulnerable” than rural, and 2-3 important contributions of urban ag
Dec 3 (W) - Health and Education Policy
- Explain why colonial powers chose to limit their efforts in education, while missionaries emphasized it
- Explain why there is a strong gender bias and urban/rural bias in education
- From the Hanes (2007) reading:
- provide additional reasons for the gender bias
- explain why educating girls pays off more
- argue whether you think Winfrey’s Academy is the best use of her generous donation
- Explain 2-3 reasons why education is declining in Africa
- Discuss the colonial and early post-colonial health policies that led to the “inverse care law”
- Describe the progression of African health care strategies, clarifying the basic approach and critique behind: “basic health services” in the 60’s, “primary health care” in the 70’s, “cost recovery” in the 80’s-90’s, and “selective health care” in the 90’s to present
- Summarize 2-3 policies debates that underlie that progression of different health policy approaches
- From the Finkle (2007) reading:
- Use Zambia to illustrate how prevalent malaria is in Africa, and explain why it is so much deadlier than in other parts of the world
- Describe how malaria was controlled in the global eradication effort of the 30’s-40’s, and explain why that miracle did not occur in Africa
- Describe Zambia’s new three-pronged strategy, and explain why that approach may not work
- Draw the population pyramid of a country heavily impacted by AIDS, and describe its economic, social and political implications
- Provide explanations for the high rate of AIDS in Africa, according to Caldwell, within the categories of Family Structures, Sexual Culture, Religion/Beliefs, Medical Issues and Institutional Issues
- From the above analysis, clarify what Caldwell argues will and will not work to reduce the spread of AIDS