ASA06: Cosmopolitanism and Anthropology
ASA Diamond Jubilee Keynote Speaker , 2.10pm - 3pm
Alan MacFarlane, University of Cambridge: Cosmopolitan Memories
Some reflections on the family and other background, education, training, turn towards anthropology, fieldwork experience, writing and research environments of a number of leading anthropologists working since the 1930’s. The great diversity of the roots and experiences of a small group of people who have changed the way we look at the world will be explored. Their influences on people in neighbouring disciplines, and overlap with musicians, explorers and others will be touched on. The talk will be illustrated with short extracts from more than 60 interviews and lectures held in a video archive on Dspace at Cambridge (see www.alanmacfarlane.com. The archive includes film of Lucy Mair, Meyer Fortes, Audrey Richards, M.N.Srinivas, Raymond Firth, Godfrey Lienhardt, Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Edmund Leach, John Barnes, John Beattie, Peter Worsley, Jack Goody, Scarlett Epstein, Aidan Southall, Ernest Gellner, Fredrik Barth, Terry Turner, Philippe Descola, Clifford Geertz, Nur Yalman, Andre Beteille and many others. It is hoped that others will contribute films and biographical materials to a resource which supplements the papers and publications of the great generation of anthropologists from around the world.
