IDCE Faculty
William F. Fisher, Ph.D.
Professor of International Development and Social Change
Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies
Phone: (508) 421-3765
Email: wfisher@clarku.edu
Education
- Ph.D., Columbia University
Research Interests
Anthropology, social movements and development, global civil society, NGOs, involuntary resettlement, ethnicity, political economy, and South Asia
Biography
Professor Fisher came to Clark University in 2000 as the founding Director of the International Development, Community, and Environment Department. He joined the Academic Administration as Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies in 2012.
Professor Fisher was trained as an anthropologist and received his PhD from Columbia University. He has taught at Princeton University and Columbia, where he served as assistant director of Columbia's Center for South Asian Studies and directed the Economic and Political Development specialization at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. From 1992 to 2000 Professor Fisher taught in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University, where he was Director of Graduate Studies in Anthropology and a Dillon Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
His early research focused on Nepal and India. He has written about the fluidity of identity formation and nationalism, the effectiveness of transnational social movements, the emergence of the World Social Forum, international development and global health, the structural determinants of HIV/AIDS, conflicts over development induced displacement, and the changing roles of NGOs.
Selected Publications
"Revolutionizing the AIDS Response." withGeeta Rao Gupta, Ann Warner, and Jessica Ogden) Global Public Health, 2011.
"Social capital and AIDS-resilient communities: Strengthening the AIDS response." (With Barbara Thomas-Slayter) Global Public Health, 2011.
“Revolutionizing the Aids Response: Building Aids-Competent Communities." (With Geeta Rao Gupta.) Aids 2031 Social Drivers Working Group Synthesis Paper. 2010.
"Mobilizing Social Capital in a World with AIDS." (With Barbara Thomas Slayter.) Aids2031 Project. 2010
"Civil Society and its Fragments," In Activism and Civil Society in South Asia. Edited by David Gellner. Sage 2010.
“Local Displacement, Global Activism: DIDR and Transnational Advocacy,” Development Induced Displacement and Anthropology, SAR Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2009.
Another World is Possible: Popular Alternatives to Globalization at the World Forum, William F. Fisher and Thomas Ponniah, eds. London and New York: Zed Books. 2003. Editions published in Japanese and French, 2004. Click here to learn more about this publication.
“The Politics of Difference and the Reach of Modernity: Reflections on the State and Civil Society in Central Nepal,” Resistance and the State: Nepalese Experiences, David Gellner, ed. Oxford Press. 2003.
Fluid Boundaries: Forming and Transforming Thakali Identity in Nepal. Columbia University Press 2001.
Toward Sustainable Development? Struggling Over India's Narmada River (ed.) M.E.Sharpe Publishers 1995.
“Grands barrages, flux mondiaux, et petites gens,” Critique Internationale, No. 13. October 2001.
“Diverting Water: Revisiting the Sardar Sarovar Project”, Water Resources Development , Vol. 17, No. 3. 2001.
"Sacred Rivers, Sacred Dams: Visions of Social Justice and Sustainable Development along the Narmada," Hinduism and Ecology . Chrisopher Chapple and Arvind Sharma (eds). Harvard University Press 2000.
"Going Under: Indigenous Peoples and the Struggle against Large Dams," Cultural Survival Quarterly. Fall 1999.
"Doing Good? The Politics and Anti-Politics of NGO Practices." Annual Review of Anthropology, Volume 26, 1997.
Courses
Community Development and Planning
Culture, Politics, and International Development/Lecture, Discussion
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
Religion, Identity and Violence in a Globalizing World/Lecture
Responding to AIDS in a Changing World:A Focus on Migration and Immigrant Communities
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
Environmental Science and Policy
Culture, Politics, and International Development/Lecture, Discussion
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
Religion, Identity and Violence in a Globalizing World/Lecture
Responding to AIDS in a Changing World:A Focus on Migration and Immigrant Communities
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
Geographic Information Sciences for Development and Environment
Culture, Politics, and International Development/Lecture, Discussion
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
Religion, Identity and Violence in a Globalizing World/Lecture
Responding to AIDS in a Changing World:A Focus on Migration and Immigrant Communities
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
Global Environmental Studies
Culture, Politics, and International Development/Lecture, Discussion
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
International Development and Social Change
Culture, Politics, and International Development/Lecture, Discussion
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
Religion, Identity and Violence in a Globalizing World/Lecture
Responding to AIDS in a Changing World:A Focus on Migration and Immigrant Communities
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
Peace Studies
Social Movements, Globalization and the State/Lecture, Discussion
