SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 446-4

THE COMMUNICATION OF SCIENCE AND THE TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY
(With Special Reference to India)

Prerequisites:

At least 75 credit hours including CMNS 345. Recommended: CMNS 247 and 362.

Objectives:

The role of communication in the evolution of international development practices and institutions since 1945 and the roles of science and technology is the focus of the first half of this course. How international influences worked on the village, town, and big city levels of India is the focus of the second half of the course. The course enables you to ask questions about the role of the IMF and the World Bank, the policies and influences of Canadian institutions, the rise of multinational corporations and NGOs – and to ask these questions about India’s search for economic self-reliance and political independence. What happens when science is widely communicated? What happens when communication technologies are transferred and become available to many groups and classes? This course is about the transfer of information and the flow of influence in the world system. What forms have resistance to “globalization” taken in India? Prior knowledge of or interest in India is not presumed. This course builds on “Communication and History”, “Communication and Development”, and “Communication in Conflict and Intervention”. Students who completed CMNS 362 are encouraged to do field-oriented research projects.

Grading:

Midterm exam 30%
Project and Presentation 60%
Participation 10%

Readings:

A list of readings will be handed out the first week of class. A text may be assigned and available in late August.

Weekly Outline:

Week 1 Definitions – development, transfer to technology, communication of science.
Week 2 The world-system in 1945 – states, markets, peoples, and the environment.
Week 3 Development and under-development – institutions, intentions, interests: strategies for science & technology.
(Project proposals due)
Week 4 Confrontations of knowledge and conflicts of interest in development Canadian institutions and interests in
International development.
Week 5 2002 – so what is new? A review and dialogue. (Take-home test).
Week 6 Thinking about India in 1947: geopolitics, poverty, colonialism, strategies for science & technology.
Week 7 Bursting through independence, state-building, priorities and disinterest.
Week 8 The countryside, the city: military, industrial & nuclear policy vs. rural development.
Week 9 Guest on development projects.
Week 10 India facing the 21st Century – when does communication make a difference?
What does self-reliance mean now?
Week 11 Student Conference.
Week 12 Student Conference.
Week 13 Final consultations and review.

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty” and “Academic Discipline” (see current Calendar, General Regulations section).