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Draft:Edward Simpson (social anthropologist)

Edward Simpson (Social Anthropologist)

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Edward Simpson
Born1971
Norwich, Norfolk
Alma materLondon School of Economics and Political Science
EmployerLancaster University
TitleExecutive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Lancaster University
Term2023-
PredecessorProfessor Paul Connolly

Edward Simpson (born 1971) is a British Social Anthropologist with an interest in South Asia, particularly Gujarat. His research focuses on how abstract ideas and plans become concrete and tangible realities, often blending anthropology and art with planning and public policy. His work asks questions of the future and the strategies and tactics people use to get there. He has curated two exhibitions at the Brunei Gallery in London on The Future of the Rural World in India[1] and Roadbuilding in South Asia[2] and has worked extensively as a consultant on climate change and infrastructure.[3]

Education and Career

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Simpson graduated from University of Manchester with a First Class Degree Social Anthropology and was awarded the Max Gluckman prize for a dissertation on Muslim political protest in Bradford against the publication of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.

He received a PhD in Social Anthropology from London School of Economics and Political Science in 2001 for a dissertation on shipbuilding in western India supervised by Alfred Gell, Chris Fuller and Jonathan Parry.[4]

Later this work became one of the foundations of an intellectual friendship with Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran from the Mumbai-based artist collective CAMP and the film Gulf to Gulf to Gulf (2011)[5] which had global screenings[6] and was purchased by Tate Modern in London.[7]

Simpson was granted the prestigious Nuffield New Career Development Fellowship to work with the Geographer Stuart Corbridge on post-disaster reconstruction in Gujarat following the devastating earthquake of 2001.[8] This project ran for a decade exploring social and political consequences of the catastrophe attracting additional funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. It remains one of the few studies to follow the longer-term consequences of a natural disaster and was widely reviewed.[9]

Simpson has held various academic and leadership roles, including positions at SOAS, Goldsmiths, and the London School of Economics. At SOAS, he Directed the South Asia Institute, overseeing international partnerships, relations with diplomatic missions, and consultancy contracts. He was also Head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology and Head of the College of Law, Anthropology and Politics.[10]

From 2013-2020 he directed a major programme of research on road-building and climate change in South Asia funded by the European Research Council and again working in partnership with the Mumbai-based arts collective CAMP.[11]

He joined Lancaster University in 2023 as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, where he leads interdisciplinary initiatives and advocates for the value of arts, humanities and social sciences in the public life of the North West of England.[12] He serves as an independent Parish Councillor and on the Boards of Lancaster Arts and the Peter Scott Gallery.

Personal Life

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Simpson is married to the potter Isabella Lepri.[13] They live on a smallholding in Cumbria and have three children.

Selected Publications

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2022. Highways to the End of the World: Roads, Roadmen and Power in South Asia. London: Hurst.[14]

2022. Passage Through Passages. London: School of Oriental & African Studies [exhibition catalogue].

2016 (with Alice Tilche). The Future of the Rural World? India’s villages 1950-2015. London: School of Oriental & African Studies [exhibition catalogue].

2013. The Political Biography of an Earthquake: Aftermath and Amnesia in Gujarat, India. London: Hurst.[15]

2006. Muslim Society and the Western Indian Ocean: The Seafarers of Kachchh. London: Routledge.[16]

References

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  1. ^ "The future of the rural world? Indian villages, 1950-2015 | SOAS". www.soas.ac.uk. 2015-10-15. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  2. ^ "A Passage Through Passages | SOAS". www.soas.ac.uk. 2020-01-17. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  3. ^ "An anthropologist among the transport specialists". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  4. ^ Simpson, Edward L. (2001). Merchants, 'saints' and sailors: The social production of Islamic reform in a port town in western India (phd thesis). London School of Economics and Political Science.
  5. ^ "From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf, 2013". studio.camp. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  6. ^ "From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf. 2013. Directed by Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran (CAMP) | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  7. ^ Tate. "'From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf', CAMP (Shaina Anand born 1975, Ashok Sukumaran born1974), 2013". Tate. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  8. ^ Simpson, Edward; Corbridge, Stuart (2006). "The geography of things that may become memories: the 2001 earthquake in Kachchh-Gujarat and the politics of rehabilitation in the prememorial era". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 96 (3): 566–585. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.2006.00706.x. ISSN 0004-5608.
  9. ^ "The Political Biography of an Earthquake, by Edward Simpson". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  10. ^ "Heads of Colleges appointments announcement | SOAS". www.soas.ac.uk. 2022-08-22. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  11. ^ "A Passage through Passages, 2020". studio.camp. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  12. ^ "Home | Staff Intranet". Lancaster University Staff Intranet. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  13. ^ "Isabella Lepri Ceramics". Isabella Lepri Ceramics. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  14. ^ "Highways to the End of the World | Hurst Publishers". HURST. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  15. ^ "The Political Biography of an Earthquake | Hurst Publishers". HURST. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  16. ^ "Muslim Society and the Western Indian Ocean: The Seafarers of Kachchh". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
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