Audrey I. Richards

Audrey Isabel Richards (born July 8, 1899 in London , † June 29, 1984 in Midhurst ) was a British ethnologist and nutritional sociologist . Most recently she was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland .

childhood and education

Audrey Richards was a child of the upscale British born company and moved the age of five with his family to India in order. She spent her childhood in a British colony . She later had to go back to England to attend school and initially had no qualifications, as was not unusual for girls at the time. Instead, she learned shorthand and typing and developed a close relationship with her teacher, Bronisław Malinowski .

She later studied under this eminent sociologist and received her doctorate in 1930 on the subject of agriculture and nutrition of the Bemba (in today's Zambia ). Malinowski developed his inspiring discussion style with the students during the lecture, was known for his teacher-student relationships and spent his holidays with the students in South Tyrol doing field research.

research

In 1931 she wrote about the matrilocal society of the Bemba in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia ). Richards continued her work with the League of Nations working for the victims of World War I in Germany and got to know hardship and hunger. She then became a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science . She did field research in the Northern Transvaal . During the Second World War she held a leading position in the Colonial Office (a very common link in Great Britain between colonial administration and anthropology), later she became a reader at the University of London and in 1950 she was director of the East-Africa Institute of Social Research at the Makerere Institute in Kampala (Uganda), whose later reputation she owes much. She then returned to Cambridge University . There she was involved in founding the Center for African Studies . Audrey Richards examined rituals on different levels and taught on the subject of field research technology with the help of the film: " On Field Technics ". Over time, she became known for her (then) unorthodox research methods. So she sent z. B. Her students visit markets to collect data.

She worked closely with economists, historians and psychologists and compared the approaches of different sciences. Her goal was to always include several areas of science through her work.

In 1956 she wrote her third book: " Chisungu ". It deals with a female initiation ritual . Richards gave frequent radio interviews and in 1955 received the CBE for her work. Since 1967 she was a member ( Fellow ) of the British Academy . In 1974 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . As President of the Royal Anthropological Institute , she worked until her death.

Personal

Originally, her relationship with her teacher, Malinowski, was rather platonic ; but after the death of his wife she became the surrogate mother of his children. There was no marriage. Her correspondence with her family has been preserved. She was considered adventurous and enjoyed doing field research. She shot her own food and went on a research trip with a tent and bicycle. Contemporaries described her as spirited, lively, ironic, humorous, sharp-tongued, witty and committed. She was intelligent, but less pretty. Her motives were above all social commitment (also through her own family) as well as a strong relationship with hunger and nutrition issues due to her own childhood in India. The strong social engagement of the female anthropologists at that time was perceived by the British colonial officials as disturbing and rather negated. Audrey Richards overcame this rejection through her steady work.

literature

• Jean Sybil La Fontaine (Ed.): The interpretation of ritual . Tavistock, London 1972
• Pottier, Johan (Ed.): Food systems in central and southern Africa . SOAS, London 1985. ISBN 0-7286-0126-5
• Marilyn Strathern: Audrey Isabel Richards, 1899-1984 . In: Proceedings of the British Academy . tape 82 , 1993, pp. 439-453 ( thebritishacademy.ac.uk [PDF]).

Web links

• Literature by and about Audrey I. Richards in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed July 24, 2020 .