SOAS University of London

Department of Anthropology and Sociology

John R Campbell

BSC(OREGON) MA(NEW YORK) DPHIL(SUSSEX)
  • Overview
  • Teaching
  • Research
  • Expertise
  • Publications

Overview

John Campbell
Department of Anthropology and Sociology

Reader in the Anthropology of Africa and Law

Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies

Member

Name:
Dr John R Campbell
Email address:
Telephone:
020 7898 4412
Address:
SOAS University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG
Building:
Russell Square: College Buildings
Office No:
580
Office Hours:
Wednesdays 09.30am-11.15pm

Biography

Between January 2007 and January 2009 Dr Campbell was away from SOAS undertaking research funded by an ESRC Grant (RES-062-23-0296) entitled "Refugees and the Law: An ethnography of the British Asylum System". This research sought to follow refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia who were seeking asylum in the UK. In April 2009 I convened a conference at SOAS to present research our findings and to look at how European state’s and the USA handle and assess asylum applications [access to the papers from this conference can be found at: www.nomadit.co.uk/refuge/].

Loading the player...

Dr John R Campbell - Refugees and the Law: An ethnography of the British Asylum System

Teaching

Programmes Convened
Courses Taught
PhD Students supervised
  • Laurie Lijnders, Motherhood Across Borders (working title)
  • Mikal Woldu, A Cross-national and inter-generational investigation of Eritrean migrants in London and Milan (Working title)
I co-teach the BA and MA ethnography course on Eastern Africa, and the MA Anthropology of Development/Perspectives on Development course. I also teach an undergraduate optional course entitled Introduction to Legal Anthropology and an MA course on The Anthropology of Law (which involves fieldwork in British courts).

Research

Research for my doctorate was conducted in the town of Koforidua, Ghana in the mid-1970’s on aspects of the political economy of urban development. Immediately following the defense of my thesis I went to the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where I taught in the sociology department for four years when I became involved in archival and policy-based research on the city of Dar es Salaam. After leaving Tanzania I worked for Oxfam-UK in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (1987-88) where I was responsible for setting up a five-year slum-upgrading project that attempted to address issues of inadequate shelter, water, employment and sewage problems. I was also given the welcome task of assisting with Oxfam’s rural development projects. In 1990 I re-entered academic life in the Department of Anthropology at The Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland where I began to write up material on Ethiopian development.


In 1991, I joined the University of Wales, Swansea as a lecturer in social anthropology where I taught and became increasingly engaged in development consultancy as a social development adviser. Some of the issues I was involved with included: participation in the World Bank Poverty Mission to Kenya (1994); undertaking a study of the NGO sector in Ethiopia (1996); involvement with several UK-DfID funded projects based in the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaborone, Botswana (1996-98); a review of Kenyan civil society (1998); evaluation of an NGO project in coastal Kenya (1999); and reviewing UK-DfID funding to Kenyan-based NGOs (1999).


I joined SOAS in 2001 and my interests focused on development and refugees. Between January 2007 and January 2009 I was away from SOAS undertaking research funded by an ESRC Grant (RES-062-23-0296) entitled "Refugees and the Law: An ethnography of the British Asylum System". This research sought to follow refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia who were seeking asylum in the UK. In April 2009 I convened a conference at SOAS to present research our findings and to look at how European states’ and the USA handle and assess asylum applications [the papers from this conference can be found at:  www.nomadit.co.uk/refuge/]. I am currently writing an ethnography of the British asylum system.

I was Head of Department from 2010-2012. I am currently available to write expert reports for Ethiopian and Eritrean asylum applicants which are concerned with nationality and/or statelessness. Solicitors should email details of the case to me well in advance of the hearing otherwise I may not be able to assist them.

Expertise

For help in contacting SOAS academics and advice on services to business and the community, please contact SOAS Enterprise on +44(0)20 7898 4837 or email enterprise@soas.ac.uk.
For all press and media enquiries please call +44 (0)20 7898 4135 or email comms@soas.ac.uk

Available for
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Press
  • Briefings
  • Short Term Consultancy
  • Long Term Consultancy
Regional Expertise
  • Africa
Country Expertise
  • Eritrea
  • Ethiopia
Languages

Publications

Jump to: Authored Books | Edited Books or Journal Volumes | Book Chapters | Articles

Authored Books

Campbell, John (2017) Bureaucracy, Law and Dystopia in the United Kingdom's Asylum System. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. (Law & Migration)

Campbell, John (2015) Nationalism, Law and Statelessness: Grand Illusions in the Horn of Africa. London; New York: Routledge. (Explorations in Development Studies)

Campbell, John (2013) Nationalism, Law and Statelessness: Grand Illusions in the Horn of Africa. Oxford: Routledge. (Routledge Explorations in Development Studies)

Edited Books or Journal Volumes

Holland, Jeremy and Campbell, John, eds. (2005) Methods in Development Research: Combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Rugby: Practical Action Pub..

Campbell, John and Holland, Jeremy, eds. (2004) Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Development. London: Intermediate Technology Group.

Campbell, John and Rew, Alan, eds. (1999) Identity and Affect: Experiences of Identity in a Globalising World. London: Pluto Press.

Book Chapters

Campbell, John (2015) 'Expert Evidence in British Asylum Courts: The Judicial Assessment of Evidence on Ethnic Discrimination and Statelessness in Ethiopia.' In: Berger, Iris and Redeker Hepner, Tricia and Lawrance, Ben and Tague, Joanna T. and Terretta, Meredith, (eds.), African Asylum at the Cross Roads. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, pp. 102-120.

Campbell, John (2006) 'Corruption and the one-party state in Tanzania: A view from Dar es Salaam, 1964-2000.' In: West, H and Raman, P, (eds.), Enduring Socialism : Explorations of Revolution and Transformation, Restoration and Continuation. New York, NY: Berghahn Books.

Campbell, John (2003) 'Defining the Limits of a Discourse. 'Social Capital' in Africa.' In: Moseley, P. and Dowler, E., (eds.), Poverty and Exclusion in North and South. Essays on Social Policy and Global Poverty Reduction. London: Routledge, pp. 149-164.

Campbell, John (2002) 'Dar es Salaam.' In: Ember, M and Ember, C, (eds.), Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures. Danbury, CT: Human Relations Area Files & Grollier Publishing Co, pp. 115-121.

Campbell, John (2002) 'GIS and inter-disciplinary research: What counts as knowledge?' In: Sillitoe, P. and Bicker, A. and Pottier, J., (eds.), Participating in Development: Approaches to Indigenous Knowledge. New York: Routledge, pp. 189-205.

Campbell, John (2002) 'Interdisciplinary Research and GIS. Why Local and Indigenous Knowledge Are Discounted.' In: Sillitoe, P. and Bicker, A. and Pottier, J., (eds.), Participating in Development. Approaches to Indigenous Knowledge. London: Routledge, pp. 189-205.

Campbell, John (2001) 'Drawing a line between autonomy and Governance: The state, civil society and NGOs in Ethiopia.' In: O.Barrow, and Jennings, M, (eds.), The Charitable Impulse. NGOs and Development in East and North East Africa. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian, pp. 149-66.

Articles

Campbell, John and Afework, Solomon (2015) 'Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants in Britain. Refugee Organising, Transnational Connections and Identity, 1950-2009.' African Diaspora, 8 (1). pp. 98-119.

Campbell, John (2015) 'Asylum vs sovereignty in the 21st century: How nation-state's breach international law to block access to asylum.' International Journal of Migration and Border Studies.

Campbell, John (2013) 'Language analysis in the United Kingdom's refugee status determination system: seeing through policy claims about ‘expert knowledge’.' Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36 (4). pp. 670-690.

Campbell, John and Yaron, Hadas and Hashimshony-Yaffe, Nurit (2013) '"Infiltrators" or refugees? An analysis of Israel's policy towards African asylum seekers.' International Migration. pp. 1-13.

Campbell, John R (2011) 'The Enduring Nature of Stateless in The Horn of Africa: How Nation-States and Western Courts (re) define Nationality.' International Journal of Refugee Law, 23 (4). pp. 656-679.

Campbell, John (2010) 'The 'problem' of ethics in contemporary anthropological research.' Anthropology Matters, 12 (1). pp. 1-17.

Campbell, John (2009) 'Caught between the ideology and realities of development: Transiting from the Horn of Africa to Europe.' The LSE Migration Study Group Working Paper 2009/01 (1). pp. 1-29.

Campbell, John (2008) 'International Development and Bilateral Aid to Kenya in the 1990s.' Journal of Anthropological Research, 64 (2). pp. 249-267.

Campbell, John (2006) 'Who are the Luo? Oral tradition and disciplinary practices in history and anthropology.' Journal of African Cultural Studies, 18, no.

Campbell, John (2005) 'Theory and Method in the Study of Poverty in East Africa.' Focaal, 45. pp. 56-68.

Campbell, John and Holland, Jeremy (2005) 'Convergent or Divergent Understandings of Poverty: Key issues in Development Research.' Focaal: European Journal of Social Anthropology, 2005 (45). pp. 3-17.

Campbell, John and Holland, J (2005) 'Development Research: convergent or divergent understandings of poverty? An Introduction.' Researching Poverty, special issue of Focaal - European Journal of Social Anthropology, 45. pp. 3-17.

Campbell, John (2005) 'Development research: convergent or divergent approaches and understandings of poverty? An introduction.' Focaal: European Journal of Social Anthropology, 45. pp. 3-17.

Campbell, John (2004) 'Ethnic Minorities and Development: A Prospective Look at the Situation of African Pastoralists and Hunter-Gatherers.' Ethnicities, 4 (1). pp. 5-26.

Campbell, John (2002) 'A Critical Appraisal of Participatory Methods in Development Research.' International Journal of Social Research Methodology, vol. 5. pp. 19-30.

Campbell, John (2001) 'Participatory Rural Appraisal as Qualititative Research: Distinguishing Methodological Issues from Participatory Claims.' Human Organization, Vol. 6. pp. 380-89.

Campbell, John (1999) 'Nationalism, ethnicity and religion: Fundamental conflicts and the politics of identity in Tanzania.' Nations and Nationalism, 5 (1). pp. 105-25.

Campbell, John (1994) 'Constraints on sustainable development in Ethiopia: Is there a future for improved wood-stoves?' Public Administration and Development, 14 (1). pp. 19-36.

Campbell, John (1994) 'Urbanisation, Culture and the politics of urban development in Ghana, 1875-1980.' Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development , 23 (4). pp. 409-450.

Campbell, John (1991) 'Land or Peasants? The Dilemma Confronting Ethiopian Resource Conservation.' African Affairs, 90 (358). pp. 5-21.

Campbell, John (1988) 'Tanzania and the World Bank's Urban Shelter Project: Ideology and International Finance.' Review of African Political Economy, 15 (42). pp. 5-18.

Campbell, John (1984) 'Class and State in the Political Economy of Ghana, 1957-1979.' Mawazo, 5 (4). pp. 82-97.

This list was generated on Tue Jul 25 03:18:58 2017 BST.