SOAS University of London

Department of Development Studies

Members

Cluster Convenor

Dr Leandro Vergara-Camus

Researchers in this cluster also engage in different ways with others at SOAS working on related fields, including Graham Dyer (Economics), Deborah Johnston (Economics), Massood Karshenas (Economics), Mushtaq Khan (Economics) and Harry West (Anthropology). Cluster members are also involved in the SOAS Food Studies Centre and have contributed to the work of the integrative research in agriculture and health programme at the London International Development Centre (LIDC).

Professor Christopher Cramer
Research Cluster Member
Chris Cramer
Africa: economics of Africa, political economy of development, political economy of war and peace in southern Africa, and the economics of cashew production, processing and trade
  • Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4492
  • Email: cc10@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 288
  • On Sabbatical:Term 2 (2021/22)
Professor Laura Hammond
Research Cluster Member
Laura Hammond

Africa; Horn of Africa; refugees and forced migration; post-conflict social integration; violence and conflict analysis; humanitarianism and humanitarian assistance; globalisation, transnationalism, diasporas and remittances; famine and food security; livelihoods in emergency contexts.

  • Tel: 020 7898 4654
  • Email: lh4@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 371
  • Academic Support Hours: By appointment only. Please email.
Dr Jens Lerche
Research Cluster Member
Jens Lerche
India; labour, social movements and globalisation; labour and the ILO; labour and caste in India; agrarian political economy.
  • Tel: 020 7898 4505
  • Email: jl2@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 295
  • Academic Support Hours: Please book: https://nliazfvvokqciisfqg.10to8.com
Professor Peter P Mollinga
Research Cluster Member
Peter Mollinga
South Asia, Central Asia; comparative political sociology of water resources and development; technology and agrarian change; boundary work in natural resources management; interdisciplinary social theory.
  • Tel: +44(0) 20 7898 4631
  • Email: pm35@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 4415
  • Academic Support Hours: By appointment via email
Professor Carlos Oya
Research Cluster Member
Carlos Oya
West Africa, Southern Africa, agrarian political economy; poverty; rural labour; development aid; research methods
  • Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4566
  • Email: co2@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 292a
  • Academic Support Hours: Tuesday 2.30pm to 4.30pm via link t.ly/XKmk  
Dr Matteo Rizzo
Research Cluster Member
Matteo Rizzo

Political economy of development, labour markets and informalisation, agrarian change, urbanisation, privatisation, aid effectiveness, Africa, Tanzania.

  • Tel: 0207 898 4836
  • Email: mr3@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 256
  • Academic Support Hours: By Appointment: http://bit.ly/2gEHDDd
  • On Sabbatical:Terms 1 & 3 (2021/22)
Dr Subir Sinha
Research Cluster Member
Subir Sinha
South Asia; social movements; civil society; the environment; institutions; agrarian questions; Marxist and postcolonial theory; Social theory in Development studies.
  • Tel: +44(0) 20 7898 4495
  • Email: ss61@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 287
  • Academic Support Hours: Mondays 11am - 1pm

Emeritus Professors

Professor Henry Bernstein
Emeritus Professor
Henry Bernstein
East Africa and South Africa; sociology of development; agrarian political economy; social and political theory; food commodity chains; governance and development.

Professorial Research Associates

Professor Jairus Banaji
Research Cluster Member
Jairus Banaji

Agrarian history; Late Antiquity and early Islam; historical materialism; and, contemporary India, with a special interest in issues like the critique of minimalist stereotypes of the ancient economy; Marx’s method in Capital; modes of production; the fate of the peasantry under capitalism; and, labour and capital in India’s economy.

Professor Cristobal Kay
Professorial Research Associate
Cristobal Kay
Latin American theories of development, political economy of agrarian change, rural livelihoods, farming systems, land reform, peasant movements, historical comparative analyses of the European and Latin American rural economy and society

Research Associates

Research Students

Dr Bernd Mueller
Research Cluster Member
Bernd Mueller

East Africa (in particular: Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda), labour markets, political economy of development, agriculture, poverty reduction, agrarian change, livelihood diversification, development aid, commodity trade