Jacob Doherty

Jacob Doherty is a Lecturer in Anthropology of Development at the University of Edinburgh's School of Social and Political Science, Department of Social Anthropology. Based in room 6.07 of the Chrystal Macmillan Building (15a George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD), he conducts ethnographic research on urban infrastructures in African cities, challenging deficit narratives through analyses of waste and mobility systems as sites of economic production and social contestation.

Education:

• PhD in Anthropology, Stanford University (2016)
• MA in Anthropology, New School for Social Research (2009)
• BA in Globalization Studies, University of Mary Washington (2006)

Research Focus: Doherty investigates how Kampala and Abidjan residents navigate inequality through everyday practices in waste management and informal transport. His work emphasizes social reproduction in mobility systems, racialized disposability in labor, and infrastructure paradoxes where systems simultaneously enable wellbeing and entrench marginalization. Key contributions include reframing waste as a "frontier" of innovation rather than failure and analyzing gendered mobility in maternal care work.

• Urban anthropology
• Environmental justice
• Informal economies
• Transport labor
• Race and capitalism
• Visual culture of infrastructure

Publication Trends: Recent works (2017-2024) reveal a sustained focus on Kampala's waste economies and Abidjan's transport systems. He documents how motorbike taxis (boda bodas) and tricycles (salonis) generate class/gender identities while reproducing inequities, and how garbage collection becomes a tool of political authority. His scholarship consistently centers African urban agency over Western interventionist models.

Advising and Professional Context: Doherty is not currently accepting PhD students and maintains regular office hours (Wednesdays 11:30-13:30). Prior appointments include Wesleyan University (Anthropology), University of Pennsylvania (Wolf Humanities Center), and Oxford University (Transport Studies Unit). No grants are specified in available texts.

Research Affiliations: He contributes to the International Development Cluster and Work & Economy research theme at Edinburgh, examining how urban infrastructures mediate belonging in contexts of environmental and economic precarity.