History of Oxford Anthropology

Peter Rivière is Professor Emeritus of Social Anthropology of the University of Oxford and Fellow Emeritus of Linacre College, Oxford, and has held posts at London, Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford Universities. Specialising in the native societies of Lowland South America and the history of the European exploration of Amazonia, his publications include, The Forgotten Frontier: Ranchers of North Brazil (1972), Individual and Society in Guiana (1984), and Absented-Minded Imperialism (1995). Most recently he has published, under the aegis of The Hakluyt Society, a two-volume edition of Sir Robert Schomburgk’s reports on his Guiana travels.

• List of FiguresList of ContributorsPrefaceIntroductionPeter RivièreChapter 1. Origins and Survivals: Tylor, Balfour and the Pitt Rivers Museum and their Role within Anthropology in Oxford 1883–1905Christopher Gosden, Frances Larson and Alison PetchChapter 2. The Formative Years: the Committee for Anthropology 1905–38Peter RivièreChapter 3. How All Souls got its AnthropologistJohn DavisChapter 4. A Major Disaster to Anthropology? Oxford and Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-BrownDavid MillsChapter 5. ‘A feeling for form and pattern, and a touch of genius’: E–P’s Vision and the Institute, 1946–70Wendy JamesChapter 6. Oxford and Biological AnthropologyGeoffrey HarrisonChapter 7. Oxford Anthropology as an Extra-curricular Activity: OUAS and JASORobert ParkinChapter 8. Oxford Anthropology since 1970: through Schismogenesis to a new TestamentJonathan BenthallAppendix: Reflections on Oxford’s Global LinksCompiled by Wendy JamesBibliographyIndex

“Oxford has arguably contributed more to our understanding of tribal societies than any other department of anthropology in the world… Through creating a virtual community, by uniting their work and their lives, by their assurance, generations of Oxford scholars have been able to make the leaps which take us into new and previously unsuspected worlds. They had the privileges, the shared zeal and the shock of similarity-with-difference which engenders true creativity and they made good use of it.” • [from the Preface]“[The volume’s] virtues include giving outsiders a sense of Oxford anthropology’s oral tradition.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute“ There is no doubt that Oxford has been a leading player in the discipline of anthropology. It is precisely the fact that this resounding success can be taken for granted that makes possible this deliciously indiscreet retrospective.” • Books & Culture