Readers of History of Anthropology Review may be interested in the obituaries that are published in American Anthropologist. Each one is a fascinating portrait of an individual’s life and contribution to anthropology—an intimate history. Collectively they are a fabulous resource for learning about the recent history of anthropology and its diversity.
The following obituary essays have appeared in American Anthropologist during the last five years:
Nancy Oestreich Lurie by Grant Arndt (June 2018)
Paula G. Rubel by Lesley A. Sharp (June 2019)
Wendy Ashmore by Patricia Urban and Edward Schortman (Sept 2019)
Sydel Silverman by Jane Schneider (Dec 2019)
Charles Goodwin by Frederick Erickson (Dec 2019)
Deanna Jeanne Trakas by Athena McLean (Dec 2019)
Deborah Bird Rose by Thom van Dooren (Mar 2020)
Richard King Nelson by Sharon Bohn Gmelch and George Gmelch (June 2020)
Jane H. Hill by Susan U. Philips (June 2020)
Napoleon A. Chagnon by William Irons (Sept 2020)
Kenelm O. L. Burridge by Dan Jorgensen (Dec 2020)
Jamie Pearl Bloom (James F. Weiner) by Alex Golub (Mar 2021)
Abraham Rosman by Lesley A. Sharp and Maxine Weisgrau (Mar 2021)
Frederick George Bailey by Elisa J. Sobo, Kevin Avruch, David Lipset, and Paula Levin (June 2021)
June C. Nash by Christine Kovic (June 2021)
Saba Mahmood by Noah Salomon (June 2021)
Lambros Comitas by Gerald Murray (Sept 2021)
Sally Engle Merry by Mark Goodale (Sept 2021)
Audrey Smedley by Faye V. Harrison and Janis Hutchinson (Sept 2021)
Leith P. Mullings by Lee D. Baker (Dec 2021)
Marshall David Sahlins by Robert Brightman (Dec 2021)
Michael Silverstein by Susan Gal (March 2022)
Amelia Louise Susman Schultz by Jay Miller (March 2022)
Nancy D. Munn by Robert J. Foster and Webb Keane (June 2022)
Steven Gregory by Arlene Dávila (June 2022)
Jan Vansina by Nancy Rose Hunt (Sept 2022)
Frederick K. Errington by Martha Macintyre (Dec 2022)
Paul Rabinow by Talia Dan-Cohen and Nicolas Langlitz (Dec 2022)
Mary Catherine Bateson by William O. Beeman (Mar 2023)
Roy Wagner by Ira Bashkow and Justin Shaffner (June 2023) (early version)
Douglas Feldman by Tiantian Zheng (forthcoming in Sept 2023)
American Anthropologist has been publishing obituaries for a long time. Sydel Silverman edited them from 2001 to 2017. In her last years she was assisted by Flemming Daugaard-Hansen. I began serving as the journal’s Associate Editor for Obituaries in 2018.
I wish to publicly thank all of the authors who have written obituaries. These biographical articles require extensive research, and they are an effortful form of service to the history of anthropology and to the memory of colleagues, teachers, and friends. Many obituary authors are HAR subscribers and regular readers.
He also thanks the previous and current editors-in-chief of American Anthropologist, Deborah A. Thomas and Elizabeth J. Chin, for continuing to support the publication of substantive obituaries.
In addition, I hope everyone is aware of the shorter “In Memoriam” articles regularly published by Anthropology News, which is currently edited by Natalie Konopinski. Readers can find these articles online in Anthropology News. They, too, are an excellent history of anthropology resource.
And of course, there are obituaries of anthropologists in other scholarly journals, such as Transforming Anthropology, Ethnohistory, and the Journal of Anthropological Research.