P R Gilbert
Biographic Data
| ID | 20048 |
|---|---|
| NAME | P R Gilbert |
| GIVEN NAMES | P R |
| FAMILY NAME | Gilbert |
| SIGNATURE | GILBERT P R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Sussex |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1059-029X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 66 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Following money, mapping ‘development
Market Studies
Market studies is a newly emerging field dedicated to understanding the origins, core concepts, theories and methods currently being used and developed to examine markets in the making. Providing a unique overview that introduces, positions and develops this highly fertile area of research, Market Studies is the first book to consolidate its themes, tools and methods in a single, comprehensive volume. Topics covered include: market organization a…
Financial capital and ghosts of empire
Outsourcing the Business of Development
While much attention has been paid to the ways in which the private sector is now embedded within the field of development, one group of actors - for-profit development consultancies and contractors, or service providers - has received relatively little attention. This article analyses the growing role of for-profit consultancies and contractors in British aid delivery, which has been driven by two key trends: first, the outsourcing of managerial…
The hole in the ground that cannot be moved’
Giving as “De-Risking
This article examines the role played by philanthrocapitalist foundations in impact investing for international development, focusing on the covid -19 Vaccines Global Access Initiative ( covax ) as a response to the current pandemic. Philanthrocapitalists and development institutions are increasingly turning to “blended finance” and “social bonds” to address the gaps in funding required to meet global development agendas, particularly in the aren…
Mutuality Talk in a Family-Owned Multinational
This article draws on work carried out as part of a collaboration between an elite business school and a family-owned multinational corporation, concerned with promoting 'mutuality in business' as a new frontier of responsible capitalism. While the business school partners treated mutuality as a new principle central to an emergent ethical capitalism, the corporation claimed mutuality as a long-established value unique to their company. Both inte…
Speculating on sovereignty
In this paper, I examine the capacity that 'technologies of the imagination' have to suture routinized financial practices in the City of London to the opening up of new extractive industry 'frontiers'. I focus on the political risk rankings through which host jurisdictions of speculative projects are assessed, and the selection of discount rates in the valuation of prospective mines. By treating these as technologies of the imagination - rather …
Bangladesh as the “Next Frontier”? Positioning the Nation in a Global Financial Hierarchy
In this article, I examine the relationship between the speculative projects embarked upon by young entrepreneurs and bankers in Dhaka during 2013, and the attempts made by analysts and nation-branding experts to present Bangladesh as a worthy “frontier” for speculative foreign investment. In order to induce others to speculate on their visions for Bangladesh, they variously positioned the nation via reference to the ratings imposed on it by cred…
Sovereignty and tragedy in contemporary critiques of investor state dispute settlement
Critiques of investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) as a neoliberal or neoimperial legal technique frequently pivot on the notion that it entails a 'loss' of sovereignty by states to corporations. This article argues for a critique of international investment law that does not echo regressive 'post-neoliberal' politics which seek reclaimed sovereignty, or equate post-colonial sovereignty with the moment of decolonisation. 'What happens to sover…
Class, complicity, and capitalist ambition in Dhaka's elite enclaves
This article draws on ethnographic work carried out in London and Dhaka as part of a multisited project exploring the production of investment opportunities for (predominantly British) companies in Bangladesh. Focusing on the ready-made garments (RMG) sector in the run-up to, and in the wake of, the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse, I trace aid-funded attempts to improve Bangladesh's investment climate and engagements with these initiatives by br…
The anthropology of financial intent
Much has been learned about calculation, commodification and marketization from the social studies of markets and finance. But what of capitalization? What is distinctive about this mode of valuation and the reality it impels? What does it mean to live under the 'asset condition'? In Capitalization: A Cultural Guide, Fabian Muniesa and his colleagues at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation take us on a tour across multiple continents and seve…
Trouble in Para-sites
Through his enduring efforts to interrogate the regulative ideals of fieldwork, George Marcus has empowered doctoral students in anthropology to rethink their ethnographic encounters in terms that reflect novel objects and contexts of inquiry. Marcus' work has culminated in a charter for ethnographic research among 'epistemic communities' that requires 'deferral' to these elite modes of knowing. For adherents to this programme of methodological r…
Commentary
Commentary for special issue of Social Anthropology on 'Governing by numbers: audit culture, rankings and the new world order
Valuation Studies
This discussion note provides a perspective on valuation studies by a group of PhD students. Based on impressions from the Valuation as Practice workshop at The University of Edinburgh in early 2014 we were inspired by the example of Kjellberg et al. (2013) to debate how we see, understand, and are inspired by the field of valuation studies. It is the hope of the editors that sharing the concerns of early-stage researchers starting out in a field…
Human Nature And Suffering
This volume explores the implications of humans as evolved social animals. Gilbert suggests that evolution has given rise to a varied set of social competencies which form the basis of our personal knowledge and understanding. These competencies are classified as: a) Care eliciting b) Care giving c) Co?operating and d) Competing. Each of these are seen as core schemata, or archetypal potentials around which knowledge is built, and from which, our…
Deskilling, agrodiversity, and the seed trade
Speculating on sovereignty
In this paper, I examine the capacity that 'technologies of the imagination' have to suture routinized financial practices in the City of London to the opening up of new extractive industry 'frontiers'. I focus on the political risk rankings through which host jurisdictions of speculative projects are assessed, and the selection of discount rates in the valuation of prospective mines. By treating these as technologies of the imagination - rather …
Commentary
Commentary for special issue of Social Anthropology on 'Governing by numbers: audit culture, rankings and the new world order
Giving as “De-Risking
This article examines the role played by philanthrocapitalist foundations in impact investing for international development, focusing on the covid -19 Vaccines Global Access Initiative ( covax ) as a response to the current pandemic. Philanthrocapitalists and development institutions are increasingly turning to “blended finance” and “social bonds” to address the gaps in funding required to meet global development agendas, particularly in the aren…
Deskilling, agrodiversity, and the seed trade
Class, complicity, and capitalist ambition in Dhaka's elite enclaves
This article draws on ethnographic work carried out in London and Dhaka as part of a multisited project exploring the production of investment opportunities for (predominantly British) companies in Bangladesh. Focusing on the ready-made garments (RMG) sector in the run-up to, and in the wake of, the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse, I trace aid-funded attempts to improve Bangladesh's investment climate and engagements with these initiatives by br…
Financial capital and ghosts of empire
The anthropology of financial intent
Much has been learned about calculation, commodification and marketization from the social studies of markets and finance. But what of capitalization? What is distinctive about this mode of valuation and the reality it impels? What does it mean to live under the 'asset condition'? In Capitalization: A Cultural Guide, Fabian Muniesa and his colleagues at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation take us on a tour across multiple continents and seve…
The hole in the ground that cannot be moved’
Following money, mapping ‘development
Sovereignty and tragedy in contemporary critiques of investor state dispute settlement
Critiques of investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) as a neoliberal or neoimperial legal technique frequently pivot on the notion that it entails a 'loss' of sovereignty by states to corporations. This article argues for a critique of international investment law that does not echo regressive 'post-neoliberal' politics which seek reclaimed sovereignty, or equate post-colonial sovereignty with the moment of decolonisation. 'What happens to sover…
Deskilling, agrodiversity, and the seed trade
Human Nature And Suffering
This volume explores the implications of humans as evolved social animals. Gilbert suggests that evolution has given rise to a varied set of social competencies which form the basis of our personal knowledge and understanding. These competencies are classified as: a) Care eliciting b) Care giving c) Co?operating and d) Competing. Each of these are seen as core schemata, or archetypal potentials around which knowledge is built, and from which, our…
Valuation Studies
This discussion note provides a perspective on valuation studies by a group of PhD students. Based on impressions from the Valuation as Practice workshop at The University of Edinburgh in early 2014 we were inspired by the example of Kjellberg et al. (2013) to debate how we see, understand, and are inspired by the field of valuation studies. It is the hope of the editors that sharing the concerns of early-stage researchers starting out in a field…
Trouble in Para-sites
Through his enduring efforts to interrogate the regulative ideals of fieldwork, George Marcus has empowered doctoral students in anthropology to rethink their ethnographic encounters in terms that reflect novel objects and contexts of inquiry. Marcus' work has culminated in a charter for ethnographic research among 'epistemic communities' that requires 'deferral' to these elite modes of knowing. For adherents to this programme of methodological r…
Commentary
Commentary for special issue of Social Anthropology on 'Governing by numbers: audit culture, rankings and the new world order
The anthropology of financial intent
Much has been learned about calculation, commodification and marketization from the social studies of markets and finance. But what of capitalization? What is distinctive about this mode of valuation and the reality it impels? What does it mean to live under the 'asset condition'? In Capitalization: A Cultural Guide, Fabian Muniesa and his colleagues at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation take us on a tour across multiple continents and seve…
Sovereignty and tragedy in contemporary critiques of investor state dispute settlement
Critiques of investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) as a neoliberal or neoimperial legal technique frequently pivot on the notion that it entails a 'loss' of sovereignty by states to corporations. This article argues for a critique of international investment law that does not echo regressive 'post-neoliberal' politics which seek reclaimed sovereignty, or equate post-colonial sovereignty with the moment of decolonisation. 'What happens to sover…
Class, complicity, and capitalist ambition in Dhaka's elite enclaves
This article draws on ethnographic work carried out in London and Dhaka as part of a multisited project exploring the production of investment opportunities for (predominantly British) companies in Bangladesh. Focusing on the ready-made garments (RMG) sector in the run-up to, and in the wake of, the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse, I trace aid-funded attempts to improve Bangladesh's investment climate and engagements with these initiatives by br…
Bangladesh as the “Next Frontier”? Positioning the Nation in a Global Financial Hierarchy
In this article, I examine the relationship between the speculative projects embarked upon by young entrepreneurs and bankers in Dhaka during 2013, and the attempts made by analysts and nation-branding experts to present Bangladesh as a worthy “frontier” for speculative foreign investment. In order to induce others to speculate on their visions for Bangladesh, they variously positioned the nation via reference to the ratings imposed on it by cred…
Mutuality Talk in a Family-Owned Multinational
This article draws on work carried out as part of a collaboration between an elite business school and a family-owned multinational corporation, concerned with promoting 'mutuality in business' as a new frontier of responsible capitalism. While the business school partners treated mutuality as a new principle central to an emergent ethical capitalism, the corporation claimed mutuality as a long-established value unique to their company. Both inte…
Speculating on sovereignty
In this paper, I examine the capacity that 'technologies of the imagination' have to suture routinized financial practices in the City of London to the opening up of new extractive industry 'frontiers'. I focus on the political risk rankings through which host jurisdictions of speculative projects are assessed, and the selection of discount rates in the valuation of prospective mines. By treating these as technologies of the imagination - rather …
The hole in the ground that cannot be moved’
Giving as “De-Risking
This article examines the role played by philanthrocapitalist foundations in impact investing for international development, focusing on the covid -19 Vaccines Global Access Initiative ( covax ) as a response to the current pandemic. Philanthrocapitalists and development institutions are increasingly turning to “blended finance” and “social bonds” to address the gaps in funding required to meet global development agendas, particularly in the aren…
Outsourcing the Business of Development
While much attention has been paid to the ways in which the private sector is now embedded within the field of development, one group of actors - for-profit development consultancies and contractors, or service providers - has received relatively little attention. This article analyses the growing role of for-profit consultancies and contractors in British aid delivery, which has been driven by two key trends: first, the outsourcing of managerial…
Market Studies
Market studies is a newly emerging field dedicated to understanding the origins, core concepts, theories and methods currently being used and developed to examine markets in the making. Providing a unique overview that introduces, positions and develops this highly fertile area of research, Market Studies is the first book to consolidate its themes, tools and methods in a single, comprehensive volume. Topics covered include: market organization a…
Financial capital and ghosts of empire
Following money, mapping ‘development
Economics (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Law (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Economy (4 works) · Elite (3 works) · Engineering (3 works) · Frontier (3 works) · Political economy (3 works)