Dr Dinah Rajak

Biography

Dinah Rajak is a senior lecturer in anthropology development.  She holds a BA in Classics from Oxford University (Somerville College 1996-2000); a Masters in the Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation (2000-2001), and a DPhil in Social Anthropology (2003-7) from the University of Sussex.  Between 2001 and 2003 she worked as a research fellow for a DFID-funded project concerned with rural livelihoods and aquaculture in South and South East Asia. 

Role

Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and Development

My research interests lie at the intersection of the anthropology of development and global capitalisms. In particular, my research concerns the role of transnational corporations in development, corporate social responsibility and moral economy, with a focus on the extractive industries and Sub-Saharan Africa. Other areas of interest include: economic empowerment, enterprise and entrepreneurialism; and the role of big business in the political economy of HIV/Aids management. My current research explores 'bottom of the pyramid' approaches to development and concepts of inclusive markets.   I am a co-founder of the Centre for New Economies of Development (http://responsiblebop.com/), together with Catherine Dloan (Oxford), Jamie Cross (Edinburgh) and Alice Street (Edinburgh).

SPECIALIST AREAS

Anthropology of global capitalisms, corporate social responsibility and development; economic anthropology; development institutions and public-private partnership; extractive industries; labour, HIV/Aids; multi-sited ethnography.

South Africa and the UK

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

• In Good Company: An Anatomy of Corporate Social Responsibility.  Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press (2011).
• The Anthropology of Corporate Social Responsibility.  New York: Berghahn (forthcoming 2014).  Co-edited with Catherine Dolan.

Special Issues

• Reigning Responsibility: Ethnographies of Corporate Ethicizing.  Themed Section, Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology Vol. 60  Co-edited with Catherine Dolan and Christina Garsten (2011).

Journal Articles

• Platinum City and the New South African Dream.  Africa Vol. 82 (2) (2012).
• Theatres of Virtue: Collaboration, Consensus and the Social Life of Corporate Social Responsibility.  Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology Vol. 60 (2011).
• Introduction: Reigning Responsibilities: Ethnographies of Corporate Ethicizing. Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology Vol. 60.  With Catherine Dolan (2011).
• ‘HIV/AIDS is Our Business’: The Moral Economy of Treatment in a Transnational Mining Company.  Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Vol. 16 (3), pp. 551-571 (2010).
• Ethnographies of Extraction: Anthropology, Corporate Social Responsibility and the Resource Curse.  Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society Vol. 35 (1), pp. 91-94 (2010).
• ‘Uplift and Empower’: The Market, The Gift and Corporate Responsibility on South Africa’s Platinum Belt, Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 28, pp.  297-324 (2008). 
• Parochial Cosmopolitanism and the Power of Nostalgia: Some Manifestations of Development Practice.  Monograph Series on Alternate Discourses on Development No.2.  Columbo, SL: Colombo Institute for the Advanced Study of Society and Culture. With RL Stirrat [50:50 co-authorship]  (2007).

Book Chapters

• From Boardrooms to Mineshafts: Researching the Anglo American Corporation. In Simon Coleman and Pauline von Hellermann (eds) Problems and Possibilities in the Translocation of Research Methods.  London and New York: Routledge (2011).
• Parochial Cosmopolitanism and the Power of Nostalgia.  In David Mosse (ed.) Adventures in Aidland.  The Anthropology of Professionals in International Development. Oxford and New York: Berghahn. With RL Stirrat [50:50 co-authorship] (2011).   
• ‘I am the Conscience of the Company’: Responsibility and the Gift in a Transnational Mining Corporation.  In Katherine E. Browne and B. Lynne Milgram (eds) Economics and Morality: Anthropological Approaches. Society for Economic Anthropology Annual Monograph Series. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, pp.  211-232, (2009).
• The Romance of the Field?   In HL Seneviratne (ed.)The Anthropologist and the Native.  Florence, Italy: Società Editrice Fiorentina and Delhi, India: Manohar Press, pp. 445-471. With RL Stirrat [50:50 co-authorship] (2008).
• The Gift of CSR: Power and the Pursuit of Responsibility in the Mining Industry.  In W. Visser, M. McIntosh and C. Middleton (eds) Corporate Citizenship in Africa. London: Greenleaf Publishing, pp. 190-201 (2006).

DOCTORAL STUDENTS

Jennifer Diggins - Moral discourses of wealth, greed and secrecy in Sierra Leone (ESRC 1+3)

Ejiro Onomake - Elite Exchanges: The Cultural Politics of Chinese Business in Nigeria

Paul Gilbert - Finance, International Accountability Networks and Extractive Industries (ESRC +3)

Darius A'zami - Prospects for the (Re)surgence of a Tanzanian Developmental State and the Role of China

Convenor of the MA in Social Development  

AUTUMN TERM

Anthropologists and Development (Postgraduate, MA)

Reproduction, Self and Society (Undergraduate 2nd Year)

SPRING & SUMMER TERMS

Anthropology of Kinship and Relatedness (Undergraduate 1st Year)

Fair Trade, Ethical Business and New Moral Economies (Postgraduate, MA)

Development, Business & Corporate Social Responsibility (Undergraduate 3rd Year Advanced Topic)

OFFICE HOURS: MONDAY 9:30-11:30am

Student Consultation

Monday 9:30-11:30am

Rajak, Dinah and Dolan, Catherine, eds. (2014) The anthropology of corporate social responsibility. Berghahn, New York.

Rajak, Dinah (2012) Platinum City and the New South African Dream. Africa, 82 (2). pp. 252-271. ISSN 0001-9720

Rajak, Dinah (2012) Review of A New Scramble for Africa? Imperialism, Investment and Development edited by Roger Southall and Hennig Melber. Journal of Modern African Studies, 50 (1). pp. 171-173. ISSN 0022-278X

Dolan, Catherine and Rajak, Dinah (2011) Introduction: Reigning Responsibilities: Ethnographies of Corporate Ethicizing. Focaal, 60. pp. 3-8. ISSN 0920-1297

Rajak, Dinah, Dolan, Catherine and Garsten, Christina, eds. (2011) Special Issue: Ethnographies of corporate ethicizing. Focaal, 60 . Berghahn Journals. ISBN 0920-1297

Rajak, Dinah (2011) Theatres of Virtue: Collaboration, Consensus and the Social Life of Corporate Social Responsibility. Focaal (60). pp. 9-20. ISSN 0920-1297

Rajak, Dinah (2011) From Boardrooms to Mineshafts: In Pursuit of Global Corporate Citizenship. In: Multi-Sited Ethnography Problems and Possibilities in the Translocation of Research Methods. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-96524-8

Rajak, Dinah and Stirrat, Jock (2011) Parochial Cosmopolitanism and the Power of Nostalgia. In: Adventures in Aidland: The Anthropology of Expertise and Professionals in Development. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-0-85745-110-1 Hb

Rajak, Dinah (2011) In Good Company: An Anatomy of Corporate Social Responsibility. Stanford University Press, Stanford, USA. ISBN 9780804776103

Rajak, Dinah (2010) 'HIV/AIDS is our business': the moral economy of treatment in a transnational mining company. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 16 (3). pp. 551-571. ISSN 1359-0987

Rajak, Dinah (2010) Ethnographies of Extraction: Anthropology, corporate social responsibility and the resource curse. Suomen Anthropologi, Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society, 35 (1). pp. 91-93. ISSN 0355-3930

Rajak, Dinah and Stirrat, R L (2009) The Romance of the Field? In: The Anthropologist and the Native: Essays for Gananath Obeyeskere. Societa Editrice Fiorentina. ISBN 9788860321152

Rajak, Dinah (2009) 'I am the Conscience of the Company': Responsibility and the Gift in a Transnational Mining Corporation. In: Economics and Morality: Anthropological Approaches. AltaMira Press, pp. 211-232. ISBN 9780759112018

Rajak, Dinah (2008) 'Uplift and empower': The market, morality and corporate responsibility on South Africa's platinum belt. Research in Economic Anthropology, 28. pp. 297-324. ISSN 0190-1281

Rajak, Dinah (2006) From Practice to Policy. Review of Cultivating Development by David Mosse. Development in Practice, 16 (3-4). ISSN 0961-4524

Rajak, Dinah (2006) The gift of CSR: power and the pursuit of responsibility in the mining industry. In: Corporate Citizenship in Africa. Lessons from the Past; Paths to the Future. Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield, pp. 190-200. ISBN 9781874719557