After graduating from the London School of Economics, Benjamin Bernard Schaffer briefly worked in the UK Treasury and then taught at the University of Southampton and the University of Queensland, Australia, before being appointed Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, shortly after it was established in 1966.

The collection comprises notes, working drafts, completed discussion papers, conference programmes, correspondence and commissioned reports documenting Schaffer’s seminal work in the field of development studies with particular reference to India, Bangladesh, Kenya and the Republic of Ireland. It also contains papers relating to Schaffer’s teaching activities and rare printed matter gathered from subject countries. Key topics covered include equitable allocation and access to public services, training in public administration, labelling and policy discourse, rural development policy, irrigation and water management and rural class differentiation.

The collection has been supplemented and enhanced as a result of Schaffer’s long-term collaboration with Professor Geof Wood, a sociologist specialising in international development, with a regional focus on South Asia, based at the University of Bath.

The collection was donated to the University of Bath by Professor Simon Schaffer, with the assistance of Professor Geof Wood, in 2013.

The collection is not yet fully catalogued. Please email the University Archivist for further details.

Size: 53 boxes (approx).