Norman Long

Norman Long (born 1936) is a British anthropologist. He conducted important fieldwork and made significant theoretical contributions through his application of insights from social anthropology in development studies. Anthropology was in the wake of decolonisation often seen as tainted by colonialism and not relevant in a development discourse. Norman Long offered another perspective that can not be seen as bound by time and place. He advocated an actor oriented perspective on development and thus formulated a critique on centralist biases in development theory.

Biography.

Education and early life: Norman Long grew up in Surrey, UK and attended Wallington County Grammar School (1950–55) He also studied music at Trinity College of Music in London (1948-1955). He entered the University of Leeds after completing British National Service with the Royal Air Force in Malaya (1955-1957). He gained a BA (hons) in Anthropology, Philosophy and Biblical Studies in 1960 During 1960-1962, he embarked on postgraduate studies in Social Anthropology and Sociology in Manchester .He was supported by State Studentship Research Scholarship. A Commonwealth Scholarship supported further his Ph. D. research. This allowed him to become Research Affiliate of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute (now Institute for African Studies, University of Zambia): March 1962-February 1964.He defended his Ph.D successfully in 1967 at the University of Manchester.^[1] He is married to Ann Long, an educational psychologist. She supported his work significantly during fieldwork and later as editor. ^[2]

Major Academic appointments: March 1964-September 1972: University of Manchester; Research associate and later lecturer in Social Anthropology October 1972-August 1981: Durham University; Reader and later Professor of Social Anthropology September 1981-December 1993 and January 1994-August 1995: Wageningen Agricultural University: Professor in Sociology of Development with special attention to rural contexts. (various definitions of the chair over time)

Temporary Appointments and Attachments: 1967-68: University of Zambia; 1993-1995 University of Bath; Temporary attachments in Latin America: Peru and Mexico. Attachmenst after retirement: Emiritus Professor Wageningen, Adjunct Professor, Chinese Agricultural University, Honorary Researh Professor, University of Leeds

Awards

• Doctor Honoris Causa, Universidad Nacional del Centro Peru/Huancayo (1995)

Key publications and major theoretical contributions.

Social change and the individual. His fieldwork in Serenje,Zambia, during the early 1960. is a prime example of anthropology moving away from a major concern with kinship and static societies to applying ethnographic methods widely in the study of social change. Kinship remains a concern, but it is kinship in action. The interaction between urban and rural sectors is a major theme, The case of the visit of Pati the townsman encompasses these themes very well. The analysis moves further away from kinship in attention for the Jehovah’s witnesses where the church becomes a source of social stability apart from kinship ^[3]

An introduction to the Sociology of Rural Development His major critique on development theory originated from fieldwork in Peru, Latin America. This origin of this critique is clearly seen in an earlier publication on regional power structures. Whereas dependency theory posits a strictly hierarchical line extracting surplus for the benefit of world capitalism, Long saw a much more complicated structure of power brokerage.^[4] The mainstay of An Introduction to the Sociology of Rural Development is in the first two chapters where Long identifies centralist biases in modernisation theory as well as dependency theory. The book advocates a view of social change as the product of actors who mould a range of social practices. ^[5]

Development Sociology: Actor perspectives is a collage of insights from a meeting of minds: On the one hand an actor oriented sociology on the other hand the engineering attitude in an agricultural university like Wageningen. It has two major components: interacting at the interface and demythologising planned interventions. It demands attention for the influence of local social practices during outside interventions. The planner, change agent etc. does not dominate the society that is targeted, but is instead one actor among many and not necessarily the dominant one. ^[6]

Publications as mentioned in Long's CV^[7]

• Long N., Y. Jingzhong and W. Yihuan (eds.) 2010. Rural Transformations and Development – China in Context. The Everyday Lives of Policies and People. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar
• Long, N. 2001. Development Sociology. Actor Perspectives, London and New York : Routledge.
• Arce, A and Long, N. (eds.) 2000. Anthropology, Development and Modernities: Exploring Discourses, Counter-Tendencies and Violence. London and New York : Routledge.
• Long, N. and H De Haan 1997. (eds.) Images and Realities of Rural Life: Wageningen Perspectives on Rural Transformations Assen: Van Gorcum.
• Long N. and A.Long (eds) 1992. Battlefields of Knowledge: The Interlocking of Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development. London and New York : Routledge.
• Long N, R. Vernooij, D.Tijerino, and V. Rivera. 1991. Como Vamos a Sobrevivir Nosotros? Aspectos de las pequenas economías y autonomía en la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua. Managua, Nicaragua: CIDCA.
• Long, N., J.D. van der Ploeg, C.Curtin and L. Box (eds.) 1986. The Commoditization Debate: Labour Process, Strategy and Social Network. Wageningen: Wageningen Agricultural University.
• Long, N. (ed.). 1989. Encounters at the Interface: A Perspective on Social Discontinuities in Rural Development. Wageningen: Wageningen Agricultural University.
• Long, N. (ed.) 1984. Family and Work in Rural Societies: Perspectives on Non-wage Labour. London: Tavistock Publications.
• Long, N. and B. Roberts. 1984. Miners, Peasants and Entrepreneurs: Regional Development in the Central Highlands of Peru . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. (republished 2007)
• Long, N. and Roberts B. (eds.) 1978. Peasant Co-operation and Capitalist Expansion in Central Peru (edited with Bryan Roberts), Austin and London : University of Texas Press 1978.
• Long, N. 1977. An Introduction to the Sociology of Rural Development. London : Tavistock Publications.
• Long, N. 1968. Social Change and the Individual: A Study of the Social and Religious Responses to Innovation in a Zambian Rural Community. Manchester : Manchester University Press, 1968.

References[]