Department faculty have been leaders in the anthropological study of development, conservation, and humanitarianism. James Ferguson has done research on development projects in southern Africa, and in the ways that discourses of development frame understandings of inequality and poverty. Bill Durham is part of collaborative, multi-year efforts in Costa Rica and Galapagos focused on agriculture, fishing, and tourism as ways to alleviate poverty and promote human well-being within a sustainability framework. Lisa Curran works on programs to combat deforestation, including REDD, and their effects on local communities. Liisa Malkki is engaged in research on humanitarian organizations, especially the Red Cross, and the motives that lie behind the urge to “help” distant and unknown others. Meskell’s work in South Africa focuses on nature conservation and biodiversity and its intersection with indigenous heritage and development. James Holland Jones works on the integration of health in the assessment of livelihood in integrated conservation and development projects in Africa and South East Asia.