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| David Stoll | |
|---|---|
| Name | David Stoll |
| Birth date | 1951 |
| Occupation | Anthropologist, Author, Professor |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley |
| Notable works | "Fishers of Men?", "Is Latin America Turning Protestant?" |
David Stoll is an American anthropologist and author known for critical field studies of development, religion, and education in Latin America and Central America. His ethnographic research combines participant observation with historical and comparative methods, often challenging prevailing narratives about international aid, evangelical expansion, and schooling. Stoll's work has influenced debates among scholars and practitioners in anthropology, sociology, religious studies, and international development.
Stoll was born in 1951 and raised in the United States during the Cold War era, a period marked by debates involving John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations. He completed undergraduate studies at Harvard University before pursuing graduate training at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under figures associated with political economy and cultural anthropology such as scholars influenced by Eric Wolf and Clifford Geertz. His doctoral research focused on rural communities affected by agrarian reform, migration, and religious change in Central America, particularly in regions linked to historic events like the Guatemalan Civil War and the broader context of Central American crisis.
Stoll held faculty positions in anthropology and Latin American studies at institutions connected to transnational research networks, including appointments that engaged with colleagues from Columbia University, University of Chicago, and University of California, Los Angeles. He conducted fieldwork in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras, collaborating with researchers associated with the Ford Foundation, United Nations Development Programme, and various non-governmental organizations such as Oxfam and Catholic Relief Services. His teaching covered ethnographic methods, political anthropology, and sociology of religion, drawing on comparative literature from scholars like Pierre Bourdieu, James C. Scott, and Sidney Mintz.
Stoll's influential books include Fishers of Men? (1990) and Is Latin America Turning Protestant? (1990), which present contested findings about missionary activity and religious conversion in Latin America. Fishers of Men? examines evangelical mission projects in rural Guatemala, discussing organizations such as Wycliffe Bible Translators, Youth With A Mission, and Missionaries of Charity, while engaging with themes raised by Max Weber's work on religion and social change. Is Latin America Turning Protestant? synthesizes survey data and local ethnographies to reassess claims by analysts like David B. Barrett and institutions such as the World Christian Database. Stoll also published articles in journals comparable to American Anthropologist, Latin American Research Review, and Journal of Latin American Studies that critiqued statistical methodologies used by scholars associated with the Pew Research Center and the Baylor Institute.
Methodologically, Stoll contributed to debates on participant observation, longitudinal field research, and the use of mixed methods in anthropology, citing comparative cases from regions studied by Oscar Lewis, Kathrine N. Adams, and Nancy Scheper-Hughes. His work highlighted unintended consequences of development initiatives and missionary programs, pointing to links between foreign aid from agencies like USAID and local transformations analyzed in studies by authors such as James Ferguson and Michael Taussig.
Stoll's critiques of evangelical expansion and development agencies provoked responses from scholars and practitioners across disciplines. Supporters compared his skeptical empiricism to interventions by Edward Said and Marshall Sahlins, while critics accused him of selective sampling and of underestimating grassroots religious agency, citing counterarguments from researchers affiliated with Boston University School of Theology and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Debates unfolded in venues including conferences sponsored by the Latin American Studies Association and in reviews in periodicals like The New York Review of Books and Foreign Affairs. Methodological critiques referenced standards promoted by the American Anthropological Association and statistical practices used in the Association of Religion Data Archives.
Over his career Stoll received recognition from academic and philanthropic organizations for his fieldwork and writing, including fellowships from bodies comparable to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, and research grants from the Guggenheim Foundation. He participated in panels at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and was a visiting scholar at centers linked to Harvard University and the University of Oxford.
Stoll's personal life includes extended residence periods in Central America that shaped his fluency in Spanish and his engagement with local civic organizations, parish groups, and campesino movements historically connected to entities like Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico and regional peasant unions. His legacy endures in anthropology and development studies through citation in curricula alongside works by Aníbal Quijano, Arturo Escobar, and Walter Mignolo. Stoll's skeptical, empirically driven approach continues to inform contemporary discussions on the ethics of intervention, the politics of religious conversion, and the evaluation of international aid.
Category:American anthropologists Category:20th-century anthropologists Category:1951 births