The PhD level course targets students from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Europe that are enrolled in doctoral studies related to gender, rural entrepreneurship, or other relevant areas of study. Through lectures, group exercises, literature review, and on the ground field study, the course aims to increase knowledge and competence around both the theory and practice of gender and rural entrepreneurship in SSA. Specific attention is given to strengthening collaborative efforts that increase understanding and establish stronger links between African and European doctoral education scholars.
Women’s entrepreneurship became a scholarly issue in the early 1980s, and since then different approaches to the study of women – and gender – have been developed. In theories about rural entrepreneurship the interconnectedness between entrepreneurship and the rural is understood as a change process and rurality is problematized. Rurality is discussed as a specific context with distinct physical, social and economic characteristics that may shape both opportunities and constraints. In this course, PhD students will learn different perspectives on gender and rural entrepreneurship, including what ontological and epistemological approaches they have. PhD students will read and discuss the application of the various perspectives, in different rural contexts, culminating with writing a paper.
By the end of the course the post-graduate students will be able to:
• Have an understanding of various gender perspectives on rural entrepreneurship.
• Critically discuss and write about contemporary gender and rural entrepreneurship theory.
• Develop a gender and rural entrepreneurship informed framework for analyzing entrepreneurship practices in a SSA context.
• Analytically apply gender and rural entrepreneurship theories in a SSA context.
• Critically engage in reading, analyzing, discussing and writing scientific articles, individually and in groups.
Content: The course is based on individual reading of the course literature, prior to the course start, and writing of a short initial academic essay (3 pages), lectures, group exercises, discussions and the writing of a final paper (10 pages). In addition, a one-day fieldtrip will take place to explore select empirical cases, which will be followed by a workshop to synthesize theory and practice. The lectures, group exercises, discussions, fieldtrip and workshop will be concentrated to 1 week in Dar es Salaam.
Applications must include: 1) a one page CV/Resume, including a short motivation on why you wish to participate in the course, 2) Support letter from Main Supervisor and 3) evidence of institutional affiliation.
Please send completed applications to: katarina.pettersson@slu.se
Deadline for applications: February 12th, 2018 (Incomplete applications will not be accepted).
Course Instructors and Facilitators
Professor Lettice Rutashobya is Professor of Business and Management at the University of Dar es Salaam Business School (UDBS). She has held academic positions in international organizations such as the International Academy of African Business and Development, and she was appointed as Honorary Doctor at the Social Science Faculty at Umeå University, Sweden in 2004. Her research has primarily focused on women’s entrepreneurship, strategic management, the impact of foreign direct investment in business development and growth in developing countries, and internationalization through networks and value chains. | |
Dr Johan Gaddefors holds a PhD and is Associate Professor in Business Studies. He is involved in teaching and research at the Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His research and course work centers on organization, leadership and entrepreneurship, but also relates to marketing and ethics. He is coordinating the Rural Entrepreneurship Group. Johan’s research interest is currently directed towards the entrepreneurial shaping of places and how places shape entrepreneurship. Currently he runs a research project about the relationships between entrepreneurship and rural areas. | |
Dr Katarina Pettersson holds a PhD and is an Associate Professor in Social and Economic geography. She works as a researcher and Director of studies at the Division of Rural Development at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. In her research, entrepreneurship, is one of her primary interests, and she believes that a gender perspective is essential. Other areas of interest are rural policy and how notions of gender are created within it. Presently, Katarina is involved in different research projects on women’s rural entrepreneurship, ‘green care’ on farms in Sweden and urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam. | |
Dr Johanna Bergman Lodin holds a PhD in Social and Economic Geography. She works as a researcher at the Division of Rural Development at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Johanna’s research interests include agricultural intensification and commercialization trajectories in Sub-Saharan Africa from a gender perspective. Her current research is carried out in collaboration with A4NH/IFPRI and their flagship program HarvestPlus, where they are assessing biofortified vitamin A maize in Zambia. She is also involved in a project on urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam. | |
Dr Linley Chiwona-Karltun holds a PhD in International Health and is an Associate Professor in Rural Development. She works as a researcher and lecturer at the Division of Rural Development at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Linley has researched issues including food security and food safety, food and health, agriculture, women and entrepreneurship, capacity building and gender, as well as migration and the food environment. Linley is highly skilled in networking: initiating networks, linking up individuals in Africa at the local and global level, and convening international workshops and conferences. |