Deborah Fahy Bryceson

ABOUT MY WORK

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My work has been grounded in studying the transformation of social and economic life from agrarian to more urban-based livelihood, settlement and mobility patterns. This has involved analysis of people’s work and leisure time pursuits with emphasis on the nature of economic transactions, spatial decision-making and social relations embedded in households, states, markets and community networks. While my main focus has been on Sub-Saharan Africa, I have engaged in comparative research, juxtaposing African case study material with that of Asia, Latin America and Europe. In tracing change, I have been sensitive to gender, age and class differences and have tended to focus on contexts in which people contend with basic threats, e.g. famine, AIDS and under-employment. I have engaged in academic as well as policy-oriented research. My research can be delineated into three main thematic areas:

• Spatial economic studies concerned with livelihood, mobility and settlement in processes of transition including the study of poverty, deagrarianization, occupational change, urbanization, urban economies and mobility patterns of the poor. I coordinated a large collaborative programme on deagrarianization and rural livelihoods with research teams in various African countries between 1996 and 2001 and a research programme on urban growth and poverty in mining Africa (UPIMA) funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Department of International Development (DfID) as well as related research consultancy.

• Social dynamics and institutions including the formation and changing nature of the family, transnational families, creole societies, social networks, drinking patterns, work cultures, age and gender differentiation, women's employment patterns and participatory research methodology.

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• Agrarian studies including rural social and economic development, notably: food marketing, agricultural policy, famine prevention and rehabilitation, urban food supply constraints, rural transports and the impact of public investment on rural welfare and  the impact of HIV/AIDS on famine-prone rural communities in Malawi 2003-2004.

Languages: English, Swahili and Dutch (reading)

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