Cornell's Department of Development Sociology is hosting a threshold conference on campus, Oct. 1-2, in the Statler Hotel Amphitheater, to mark the occasion of its recent name change.
The conference, "Development Challenges in the Twenty-first Century," will examine how social science in general, and sociology in particular, can identify and address problems facing the world's peoples, governments and ecology in an era of globalization. Issues include global environmental change, social displacement, demographic scenarios, spatial inequalities, food crises, global justice movements and tensions between world and local policies.
Formerly the Department of Rural Sociology, the department's new name confirms its long-standing teaching, research and outreach in the area of the sociology of development, in which the sociology of rural change is a key sub-theme. The department is committed to a form of publicly oriented sociology that addresses social questions and public dilemmas that define the modern era.
The conference keynote speaker, Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University senior research scholar in the department of sociology, will speak on the topic "After Developmentalism and Globalization, What?"
Wallerstein, past president of the International Sociological Association, is one of the pre-eminent sociologists in the world. His pioneering world-systems analysis, concerned with broadening our analytical horizons on the source and scope of social change, has had a broad interdisciplinary impact in the social sciences at large.
The conference is divided topically into four panels: development and governance, population and community, environment, and development policy.
Ray Offenhieser, a department alumnus and director of Oxfam America, will present on the topic "Road Warriors for Social Justice," which examines the proliferation of nongovernmental organization around the world.
Other presenters include Cornell faculty members Shelley Feldman, Charles Geisler, Douglas Gurak, Philip McMichael, Muna Ndulo and Nicolas Van de Walle. Cornell respondents include Lourdes Beneria, David Brown, Davydd Greenwood and Ron Herring. The concluding panel will feature senior graduate students in development sociology reflecting on the theme of the conference.
The conference is open to the public. For details, contact Renee Hoffman at rmh6@cornell.edu.
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