James Fairhead

James Fairhead, Professor of Social Anthropology, Sussex University.

"Before his appointment as Chair in Social Anthropology at Sussex in 2001, James Fairhead was Reader in Social Anthropology at SOAS, University of London and, earlier still, Lecturer in Anthropology and Development at Oxford (Queen Elizabeth House). He has an MA and PhD in Anthropology from SOAS, and BA in Agricultural and Forestry Sciences from Oxford. James is a member of the ESRC Strategic Research Board and the ESRC International Committee. He has recently acted as Vice-Chair of the joint ESRC/DfID funding scheme. He is a member of the governing bodies of the University of Sussex (Council) and of the Royal Anthropological Institute (Council).

"James Fairhead's research has unfolded in several phases. It began with doctoral fieldwork (1986-9) in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), focusing on questions of fertility and health, although focusing less on people than on soils and plants. Whilst still writing about DRC and its conflicts, in 1991 he began a second phase of research focusing on agro-ecology and vegetation management in the Republic of Guinea. This led to a trilogy of books examining how environmental sciences and policy engage with the lives and perspectives of land users, considering disjunctures between them. The first (Misreading the African Landscape) focuses on one part of Guinea; the second (Reframing Deforestation) focuses on the West African forest zone more generally, and the third (Science, Society and Power) examines the forces shaping the conduct of environmental science, comparing how these forces play out in West Africa and the Caribbean. Interest in the anthropology of science and of health informs a third phase of research, begun in 2002 which examines how immunization research and policy unfolds in relation to the social worlds of West Africa (Guinea and The Gambia) and the UK. His recent book Vaccine Anxietes draws this work together. Alongside anthropological fieldwork, Fairhead also writes on the broader social and environmental history of the regions, including the major source book: African American Exploration of West Africa. His current research builds on these themes. Firstly, he is developing research on mining and society in contemporary Africa. Secondly, he is researching the importance of on-going interdisciplinary work on Amazonian soils (Terra Preta) for humid West Africa. Thirdly he is researching the 19th century history of anthropology in its engagement with Liberia."

Books

 * Fairhead, J and Melissa Leach, 2007, Vaccine anxieties: global science, child health and society. London: Earthscan, Science in Society Series
 * Fairhead, J and M. Leach, 2003, Science, society and power: environmental knowledge and policy in West Africa and the Caribbean. Cambridge: CUP.
 * Fairhead, J., S. Holsoe, T. Geysbeek and M. Leach 2003 African-American exploration of West Africa: four nineteenth century diaries. Indiana University Press (African American Studies Series)
 * Fairhead, J and M. Leach 1998, Reframing Deforestation: global analyses and local realities - studies in West Africa., London: Routledge.
 * Fairhead, J and M. Leach., 1996, Misreading the African Landscape: Society and Ecology in a Forest-Savanna Mosaic, African Studies Series, Cambridge and New York:  Cambridge University Press