Christopher Candland
Professor of Political Science
Interested in the political dimensions of human development, especially policies that promote education, employment, health, and dignity in Southern Asia.
My education began with studies in philosophy, religion, and the fine arts at Haverford College. After college, I worked for some years with refugees and internally displaced people in South Asia. My graduate studies focused on Southern Asia, the region from Pakistan to Indonesia, united by common cultural and linguistic traditions.
My scholarship explains how voluntary associations can promote and how public policy can enhance broad-based achievements in education, employment, health, and dignity. My major current project is on Muslim charities and everyday human security in Pakistan. A new project studies sources of insecurity and resources for improved felt security in Southeast Asia.
Teaching is my professional priority. A positive influence on students’ learning is my main goal. I offer two related courses concerned with development: “Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment” (an introduction to political economy and development studies) and “Politics of Community Development” (a seminar on the running of non-governmental development organizations). My course on “Comparative Politics” focuses on mechanisms to increase the proportion of women in elected bodies. I offer two regionally focused courses: “Politics of South Asia,” which examines domestic politics, and “International Relations of South Asia,” which examines inter-state relations. I have taught bi-campus video-conference courses for students in Pakistan and the United States on the "Politics of Human Development in Pakistan.” I have also taught "Literature and Politics of South Asia" and "Ethnicity, Nationalism, Religion, and Violence." I offer a course on “Logic and Rhetoric for Political Analysis.”
I have conducted research and methodology workshops for students and faculty in Indonesia and Pakistan; consulted on educational and labor rights issues with agencies, committees, and departments of the U.S. government; advised a U.S. federal advisory committee on international labor issues; and testified as an expert witness in forced labor, political asylum, and trafficking cases.
My syllabi and select publications can be found at www.candland.org
Education
- B.A., Haverford College
- M.A., Columbia University
- M.Phil., Columbia University
- Ph.D., Columbia University
Current and upcoming courses
Designed to sharpen judgment about current political claims, the course uses classical logic and rhetoric to examine processes of thinking and methods of persuasion. We learn the use of independent observation, logical reasoning, forms of deductive inference, and kinds of experimentation. We examine theories related to discovery and the nature of truth. We subject political oratory and reporting to critical scrutiny. Most attention is paid to techniques of persuasion involving logical fallacies such as the 'genetic fallacy,' appeals to emotions such as indignation, and biases such as chauvinism. Reading focuses on studies and stories of detection and discovery.
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Overview of development studies with attention to major schools of political economy, their intellectual origins and centrality to contemporary debates about economic development. Topics include: capitalism, colonialism, dependency, nationalism, slavery, and independence; economic development models, policies, and strategies; perspectives on gender and development; changing conceptions and measures of poverty, development, and underdevelopment; contemporary debates in development studies.