Courses
Marketing, Consumption and Culture
Corporate Social Responsibility
Social Innovations and Marketing for Change
Consumer Insights

Expertise
Gender and markets
Corporate social responsibility and ethical consumption
Market-based approaches to development
Political economy of food and agriculture
Cultural economy of global commodity chains

Overview
Catherine Dolan (PhD, MA, BA) is an anthropologist working at the interface of business, international development and social change. She specialises in the social and political economy of development, primarily in Africa, and over the past 15 years has directed and researched interdisciplinary programs on poverty, globalization, commodity chains, rural livelihoods, corporate social responsibility and gender.
 
In recent years, she has examined market-based approaches to poverty reduction, gender empowerment and responsible capitalism, focusing on both the discourses and practices of initiatives and their consequences for households and communities. A central theme of her research is the relationship between market and moral economies, a theme she has examined in relation to corporate social responsibility (CSR), fairtrade, bottom-of-the-pyramid initiatives, and cause-related marketing partnerships. She is currently examining the role of corporate/NGO partnerships in enterprise, entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment.
 
Catherine has held earned several fellowships including: Fulbright; Social Science Research Council; Green Templeton College (University of Oxford); the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society (University of Oxford); the Centre of African Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies; the Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the International Center for Research on Women in Washington, DC; and Boston University’s Center for African Studies.
 
She has been a consultant and advisor to the World Bank, DFID, USAID, UNIFEM, ILO, UNCTAD, British government, and several other agencies and foundations, and her research has been widely covered by press, including the NY Times, the Financial Times, and the Guardian.
 
Prior to joining Oxford, she taught anthropology and development studies at Northeastern University, Boston (2002-2006) and the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia (1999-2001), and was a Research Officer in the Globalisation Programme, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.

Research interests

Corporate social responsibility and ethical consumption.
Gender and markets.
Political economy of food and agriculture.
Market-based approaches to development.
Global commodity chains.

Edited Collections:

2011 Special Issue: Ethnographies of corporate ethicizing, Focaal: European Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology (edited with Dinah Rajak, Christina Garsten)

2006 Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System, London: Earthscan (edited with Stephanie Barrientos).

Journal articles:

Dolan, Catherine, Johnstone-Louis, Mary and Linda Scott, 2012, Shampoo, Saris and SIM Cards: Seeking Entrepreneurial Futures at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Gender & Development, 20 (1): 33-47,

Dolan, Catherine and Dinah Rajak, 2011, ‘Introduction: Ethnographies of Corporate Ethicizing’, Focaal: European Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 60 (Summer): 3-8.

Dolan, Catherine and Mary Johnstone-Louis, 2011, ‘Re-siting Corporate Responsibility: The Making of South Africa’s Avon Entrepreneurs’, Focaal: European Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 60 (Summer): 21-33.

Blowfield, Mick and Catherine Dolan, 2010, ‘Fairtrade Facts and Fancies: What Kenyan Fairtrade Tea Tells Us about Business’ Role as Development Agent’, Journal of Business Ethics, 93: 143-162.

Blowfield, Michael and Catherine Dolan, 2010, ‘Outsourcing Governance: Fairtrade’s Message for C21 Global Governance’, Journal of Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, 10 (4): 484 – 499.

Dolan, Catherine, 2010, ‘Virtual Moralities: The Mainstreaming of Fairtrade in Kenyan Tea Fields’, Geoforum 41(1): 33-43.

Dolan, Catherine and Mary Johnstone, ‘Bargaining with God: Religion, Advertising and Commercial Success in Kenya’, Advertising and Society Review 10(4).

Dolan, Catherine and Linda Scott, 2009, 'Lipstick Evangelism: Avon Trading Circles and Gender Empowerment in South Africa', Gender and Development 17(2): 203-218

Dolan, Catherine, 2008, 'Arbitrating Risk through Moral Values: The Case of Kenyan Fair Trade’, in Hidden Hands in the Market: Ethnographies of Fair Trade, Ethical Consumption, and Corporate Social Responsibility, Research in Economic Anthropology (28): 271-296.

Dolan, Catherine, 2008, 'The Mists of Development: Fairtrade in Kenya Tea Fields', Globalizations 5(2). 1-14.

Blowfield, Michael and Catherine Dolan, 2008, 'Stewards of Virtue?: The Ethical Dilemma of CSR in African Agriculture’, Development and Change 39(1): 1-23.

Dolan, Catherine, 2007, 'Market Affections: Moral Encounters with Kenyan Fairtrade Flowers', Ethnos 72(2): 239–261.

Dolan, Catherine, 2005, 'Fields of Obligation: Rooting Ethical Consumption in Kenyan Horticulture', Journal of Consumer Culture 5(3): 365-389.

Dolan, Catherine, 2005, 'Benevolent Intent: The Development Encounter in Kenya’s Horticulture Industry', Journal of Asian and African Studies 40(6): 411-437.

Dolan, Catherine and Maggie Opondo, 2005, 'Seeking Common Ground: Multistakeholder Initiatives in Kenya’s Cut Flower Industry', Journal of Corporate Citizenship (18, Summer): 87-98.

Tallontire, Anne, Dolan, Catherine, Barrientos, Stephanie and Sally Smith, 2005, 'Reaching the Marginalised? Gender, Value Chains and Ethical Trade in African Horticulture', Development in Practice 15(3&4): 559-571.

Dolan, Catherine, 2004, '"I Sell My Labor Now": Gender and Livelihood Diversification in Uganda', Canadian Journal of Development Studies 25(4): 665-683.

Dolan, Catherine, 2004, 'On Farm and Packhouse: Employment at the Bottom of a Global Commodity Chain', Rural Sociology 69(1): 99-126.

Dolan, Catherine and John Humphrey, 2004, 'Changing Governance Patterns in the Trade in Fresh Vegetables between Africa and the United Kingdom', Environment and Planning A 36(3): 491-509.

Barrientos, Stephanie, Dolan, Catherine and Anne Tallontire, 2003, 'A Gendered Value Chain Approach to Codes of Conduct in African Horticulture', World Development 31(9): 1511-1526.

Dolan, Catherine and Stephanie Barrientos, 2003, 'Enhancing Gender and Participation in Codes of Conduct', Sustainable Development International 18 (7/1).

Dolan, Catherine, 2002, 'Gender and Witchcraft in Agrarian Transition: The Case of Kenyan Horticulture', Development and Change 33(4): 659-681.

Selected book chapters:

Dolan, Catherine, Forthcoming,'Economies of Expectation: Men, Marriage and Miracles in Kenya's Religoius Marketplace', in L. Scott, P. Macalaran and D. Rinallo (eds.), Consumption and Spiritiuality, London: Routledge (2012).

Berlan, Amanda and Catherine Dolan, Forthcoming, ‘Of Red Herrings and Immutabilities: Rethinking Fair Trades Ethic of Relationality among Cocoa Producers’, in M. Goodman and C. Sage (eds.), Food Transgressions: Making Sense of Contemporary Food Politics, London: Ashgate (2012).

Dolan, Catherine, 2011, ‘Branding Morality’, in M. Warrier (ed.), The Politics of Fairtrade, London: Routledge, pp.37-52.

Dolan, Catherine, 2010, ‘Fractured Ties: The Business of Development in Kenyan Fairtrade Tea’, in S. Lyon and M. Moberg (ed.), Fair Trade and Social Justice: Global Ethnographies, NY: NYU Press, pp. 147-175.  

Dolan, Catherine, 2008, 'Virtue at the Checkout Till: Salvation Economics in Kenyan Flower Fields', Economics and Morality: An Anthropological Approach, Lanham, Md: Altamira Press, pp. 290-319.

Opondo, Maggie, Dolan, Catherine, Kathuri, James and Senorina Wendoh, 2008, 'Gender and Employment', Connecting People, Participation and Place: Participatory Action Research Approaches and Methods, London: Routledge.

Tallontire, Anne, Dolan, Catherine, Barrientos, Stephanie and Sally Smith, 2006, 'Reaching the Marginalised? Gender, Value Chains and Ethical Trade in African Horticulture', in D. Eade and J. Sayer, Development and the Private Sector: Consuming Interests, Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, pp. Amended version of Tallontire, Dolan et. al, 2006.

Barrientos, Stephanie and Catherine Dolan, 2006, 'Transformation of Global Food System: Opportunities and Challenges for Fair and Ethical Trade', in S. Barrientos and C. Dolan, Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System, London: Earthscan, pp. 1-33.

Barrientos, Stephanie and Catherine Dolan, 2006, 'Concluding Reflections on the Future of Ethical Sourcing', in S. Barrientos and C. Dolan, Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System, London: Earthscan, pp. 179-185.

Smith, Sally and Catherine Dolan, 2006, 'Ethical Trade: What Does it Mean for Women Workers in African Horticulture?', in S. Barrientos and C. Dolan, Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System, London: Earthscan, pp. 79-95.

Dolan, Catherine, 2005, 'Household Composition and Livelihood Diversification in Uganda', in F. Ellis and H. Ade Freeman, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction Policies, London: Routledge, pp. 82-99.

Little, Peter and Catherine Dolan, 2004, 'What it Means to be Restructured: "Nontraditional Commodities and Structural Adjustment in Africa', in M. Edelman and A. Haugerud (eds.), Anthropology of Development and Globalization: From Classical Political Economy to Contemporary Neoliberalism, Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 206-215.

Dolan, Catherine and John Humphrey, 2003, 'The Governance of the Trade in Fresh Vegetables between Africa and the United Kingdom', in Roberto Fanfani and Cristina Brasili (eds.), Perspectives of the Agri-food System in the New Millennium, Bologna, Italy: CLUEB Press, pp.199-220.

Dolan, Catherine, 2002, 'The Meru', in Ember, C., Ember, M. and I. Skoggard (eds.), Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Macmillan Press.