Biography

Peter Little is a development and economic anthropologist who currently is Professor of Anthropology and Director, Center for Development Studies at Emory University.  He has been involved with research and training in international development since 1981. During the past 28 years, Dr. Little has researched and directed interdisciplinary programs on rural development, globalization, natural resources management, and poverty and food insecurity in several African countries, but with primary emphasis on eastern Africa, including the African Horn.  In this period, he has earned several prizes and awards, including fellowships and grants from the the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council; and the Kirwan Memorial Research Prize (2005) and the Wethington Research Award (2007) both from the University of Kentucky, Amaury Talbot Book Prize from the Royal Anthropological Institute (2003), and a ChoiceOutstanding Academic Book award (2004). 

Dr. Little has been a consultant and advisor to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, US Agency for International Development, International Institute for Environment and Development (England), the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), OXFAM-America, and several other agencies and foundations. 

Dr Little has published more than 100 journal articles, book chapters, and research reports and eight books.  Among his recent books are Somalia: Economy Without State (2003; Talbot Book Prize and Choice Academic Book Award) and Understanding and Reducing Persistent Poverty in Africa (with C. Barrett and M. Carter, 2008). Currently Dr. Little is completing a book on the 'anthropology of neo-liberalism in Africa' with support from the Guggenheim Foundation.