David Lewis (academic)

David Lewis is professor of social policy and development at London School of Economics who specialises in development policy and management, with a particular interest in Non-Governmental Organisations and civil society, and whose work has mainly had a geographical focus on Bangladesh. He has also written on rural development, organisational issues in development agencies, and anthropological approaches to development.^[1]

He is also a London-based acoustic singer/songwriter who has released three CDs: No Straight Line (1995, Dejadisc), For Now (2001, Appleseed) and Ghost Rhymes (2007, Wow).^[2]

Major contributions

Geographical interest

His field work has been primarily in South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh and he has worked as a consultant for several development agencies. These have included DFID, Oxfam and BRAC (NGO) in Bangladesh.^[1][3] He has also worked as an advisor to the Reality Check Project - a Sida sponsored initiative that is documenting grassroots experiences and perceptions of health and education reform in Bangladesh.^[4]

Poor people’s organizations and poverty programs

He conducted work (jointly with Tony Bebbington and Simon Batterbury) for the World Bank's poverty programs under the title Organizational cultures and spaces for empowerment? Interactions between poor people’s organizations and poverty programs (the countries covered were Bangladesh, Burkina Faso and Ecuador).^[5]

Life histories of NGO activists and leaders

He was also lead researcher on the ESRC funded study on Activists, Power and Sectoral Boundaries: Life Histories of NGO Leaders.^[6]

The fiction of development

He also was a coauthor with Dennis Rodgers and Michael Woolcock of the paper "The Fiction of Development: Literary Representation as a Source of Authoritative Knowledge".^[7][8] This paper's "novelty" aroused some media interest.^{[9][10][11][12]} The Crisis States Research Centre, in conjunction with DESTIN and the Department of Social Policy, all of the LSE, in February 2010 held a public event on the theme of this paper 'The Fiction of Development' - and at which three noted literary figures Giles Foden (author, The Last King of Scotland), Jack Mapanje (Malawian poet and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Newcastle University), and Sunny Singh (Indian writer and journalist) as well as Professor Lewis all discussed the topic.^[13]

Major publications

• Lewis, D. 2011, forthcoming. Bangladesh: Politics, Economy and Civil Society. Cambridge University Press. [1].
• Lewis, D and Kanji, N. 2009. Non-Governmental Organisations and Development London: Routledge ISBN 0415454301^[14]
• Lewis, D. & A. Hossain. 2008. Understanding the Local Power Structure in Bangladesh. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Stockholm: Sida Studies No. 22.
• Lewis, D. & D. Mosse (eds) 2006. Development Brokers and Translators: The Ethnography of Aid and Agencies. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Books.
• Lewis D. 2001. The Management of Non-Governmental Development Organisations London: Routledge ISBN 0-415-20759-2.^[15]Now also 2nd Edition (2007)
• Lewis D. and D.Mosse (eds) 2005. The Aid Effect: Giving and Governing in International Development. London: Pluto Press.
• Glasius M., D. Lewis and H. Seckinelgin.(eds) 2004. Exploring Civil Society: Political and Cultural Contexts. London: Routledge.
• Lewis D and T Wallace. (eds) 2000. New Roles and Relevance: Development NGOs and the Challenge of Change. Hartford, Ct: Kumarian Press.
• Lewis, D. (ed) 1999. International Perspectives on Voluntary Action: Rethinking the Third Sector. London: Earthscan.
• Lewis, D. and K Gardner. 1996. Anthropology, Development and the Post-Modern Challenge. London: Pluto Press.
• Lewis D., GD Wood and R Gregory. 1996. Trading the Silver Seed: Local Knowledge and Market Moralities in Aquacultural Development. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.
• Lewis D. and Farringdon J. (ed) 1993. NGOs and the State in Asia: Rethinking Roles in Sustainable Agricultural development. London: Routledge.
• Lewis D., 1991. Technologies and Transactions: A Study of the Interaction between New Technology and Agrarian Structure in Bangladesh. University of Dhaka, Bangladesh: Centre for Social Studies.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www2.lse.ac.uk/socialPolicy/whosWho/academicStaff.aspx#generated-subheading9 Prof. Lewis on the LSE's website
2. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lewis_%28musician%29
3. ^ http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:_Xn3eHBSsJsJ:www.copeh-mena.org/en/docs/new/Community_based_participatory_research.doc+%22David+Lewis+is%22+NGO&cd=16&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk CoPEH-MENA: American University Of Beirut
4. ^ Lewis, David and Hossain, Abul (2008) Understanding the Local Power Structure in Rural Bangladesh,Sida Studies No. 22 Art no. SIDA46929en ISBN 978-91-586-8115-6
5. ^ http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTCP/Resources/portfolio.pdf
6. ^ http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/ViewAwardPage.aspx?awardnumber=RES-155-25-0064 Esrc Society Today
7. ^ (2008) The Fiction of Development: Literary Representation as a Source of Authoritative Knowledge, Journal of Development Studies, February, volume 44, number 2, pp 198-216
8. ^ http://www.bwpi.manchester.ac.uk/research/fictionofdevelopment/welcome.html Fiction of Development site at BWPI
9. ^ The Telegraph Novels 'better at explaining world's problems than reports' People should read best-selling novels like The Kite Runner and The White Tiger rather than academic reports if they really want to understand global issues like poverty and migration, By Stephen Adams 06 Nov 2008
10. ^ http://www.esquire.com/blogs/books/Development-Lit-Blog#ixzz0k80B6F5M You Don't Have To Hide Your Copy Of "The Kite Runner" Anymore November 7, 2008 at 3:21PM by Anya Yurchyshyn
11. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/novels-give-best-insight-of-society-1.894116 The Herald, Novels 'give best insight of society' heraldscotland staff Published on 7 Nov 2008
12. ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2008/1110/why-novels-are-best-at-explaining-world-problems Christian Science Monitor, Why novels are best at explaining world problems, By Marjorie Kehe / November 10, 2008
13. ^ http://www.crisisstates.com/events/Public%20Events09-10.htm Crisis States Research Centre Public Events 2009-10.
14. ^ Non-Governmental Organisations and Development by David Lewis and Nazneen Kanji - Reviewed by Richard Holloway 1 December 2009 Alliance magazine
15. ^ The management of non-governmental development organizations: an introduction. David Lewis Reviewed by Duncan Scott Community Dev Journal 2002; 37: 198-199

Persondata
Name	Lewis, David
Alternative names
Short description	Professor of social policy and development
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death