Sir W Arthur Lewis and the Possibility of Development

Stuart Corbridge, former Professor of International Development at LSE will be giving this lecture to celebrate the legacy and work of Professor Sir Arthur Lewis.

Sir W. Arthur Lewis was born in St Lucia in 1915, joined LSE as an undergraduate in 1933 and became a School Reader in Colonial Economics in 1947. He is widely regarded as the ‘father of development economics’. But this is only part of the story.

Lewis was active in Pan-Africanist circles in London, where he mixed regularly with Padmore, CLR James, Moody and others. He was sharply critical of white pretensions to a ‘civilizing mission’ in Black Africa. Lewis also faced systemic racism as he built his career in the UK. Later in life, Lewis won the Nobel Prize for Economics. For a while, too, he was a University Vice Chancellor.

Meet our speaker and chair

Stuart Corbridge was the Vice Chancellor and Warden of Durham University from 2015 to 2021. From 2013 to 2015 he was Provost and Deputy Director of LSE. With Glyn Williams, Manoj Srivastava and Rene Veron, he is the author of Seeing the State: Governance and Governmentality in India.

Adnan Khan is Professor of Practice at LSE's School of Public Policy. He is also Chief Economist at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). He has served in various policy and academic positions in the past at International Growth Centre (IGC) at LSE, at Harvard Kennedy School, and elsewhere.

More about this event

The Executive Office is the office of LSE President and Vice Chancellor Baroness Minouche Shafik, and comprises of members of the School Management Committee and a team of executive and administrative officers.

The Department of International Development (@LSE_ID) promotes interdisciplinary postgraduate teaching and research on processes of social, political and economic development and change.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEArthurLewis

Featured image (used in source code with watermark added): Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of The London School of Economics and Political Science.

From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.

LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.