Michael Brian Schiffer

Michael Brian Schiffer (born October 4, 1947 in Winnipeg , Manitoba ) is an American - Canadian archaeologist and anthropologist . He taught for four decades at the Department of Anthropology and the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona and is considered one of the co-founders of Behavioral Archeology . In addition to this research focus, he is interested in historical electronics of the 19th century and their technological change.

Life

Youth, studies and first professional experience

Schiffer was born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1947. His father ran a small farm with his parents and siblings and raised poultry. After other members of the extensive Schiffer family had immigrated to the United States, Schiffer's parents decided to try their luck there too. They settled in Los Angeles , California in 1953 . Schiffer went to school in the Crenshaw neighborhood and attended Audubon Junior High School and Dorsey High School . After finishing school, he studied chemistry from June 1965 at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a sophomore he changed his subject and turned to anthropology. In the summer of 1968 he took part in the Southwest Expedition of the Field Museum of Natural History in Vernon , Arizona . In 1969 he received a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude from UCLA. Schiffer now continued his studies at the University of Arizona, where he should receive his Master of Arts in 1972 . He returned to Vernon again in the summers from 1969 to 1971. The resulting data flowed into his dissertation entitled Cultural Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record: Applications at the Joint Site, East-Central Arizona. which he now wrote. Her disputation and Schiffer's doctorate took place in August 1973 . In August of the same year Schiffer and his wife moved to Fayetteville , Arkansas , where Schiffer began working for the Arkansas Archeological Survey , including taking part in the Cache River Archeological Project (CRAP).

Schiffer has been married since 1968. The marriage resulted in two sons. His oldest son, Adam Joseph Schiffer, is a political scientist and teaches as an assistant professor at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth , Texas .

Academic teaching

In August 1975 he moved to the University of Arizona, where he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology . In 1979 he became an Associate Professor and, together with Randall H. McGuire , created an archaeological survey of southwestern Arizona for the Bureau of Land Management . In 1982 he became a professor. From 1983 he was involved in setting up the Laboratory of Traditional Technology , which is supposed to ensure that archeology students at the University of Arizona are adequately equipped for their experiments and field research. In the late 1980s, encouraged by W. David Kingery , Schiffer began to deal with historical electronics (of the 19th century) and their technological change. He also came by Patrice Teltser which 1992-1995 guest lecturer ( Visiting Scholar ) in the Laboratory of Traditional Technology , was in contact with the theories of Evolutionary Archeology and saw overlaps with its work on the Behavioral Archeology. Over the next few years he worked on developing an overarching theory for these two currents. This resulted in his 1998 book The Material Life of Human Beings: Artifacts, Behavior, and Communication .

After the retirement of William A. Longacre followed Schiffer this 2004 as Fred A. Riecker Distinguished Professor of. Schiffer himself, retired in 2014 and was replaced by Steve Kuhn.

Awards

The 1994 book The Electric Automobile in America won the Society of Automotive Historians' Cugnot Award of Distinction in 1995 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize .

Publications (selection)

• Michael B. Schiffer: Behavioral Archeology. (1976, Academic Press. Reissued in 2002 by Percheron Press)
• Michael B. Schiffer, William L. Rathje : Archeology. (1982, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.)
• Randall H. McGuire , Michael B. Schiffer: Hohokam and Patayan: The Prehistory of Southwestern Arizona. (1982, Academic Press. New York)
• Michael B. Schiffer: Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record. (1987, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.)
• Michael B. Schiffer: The Portable Radio in American Life. (1991, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.)
• Michael B. Schiffer: Technological Perspectives on Behavioral Change. (1992, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.)
• Michael B. Schiffer [Ed.]: Behavioral Archeology: First Principles. (1995, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.)
• Tamara C. Butts, Kimberly K. Grimm, Michael B. Schiffer: Taking Charge: The Electric Automobile in America. (1994, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.)
• Michael B. Schiffer, Andrea R. Miller: The Material Life of Human Beings: Artifacts, Behavior, and Communication. (1999, Routledge, London.)
• Michael B. Schiffer [Ed.]: Social Theory in Archeology. (2000, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.)
• Michael B. Schiffer [Ed.]: Anthropological Perspectives on Technology. (2001, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.)
• Michael B. Schiffer, Kacy L. Hollenback, Carrie L. Bell: Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment. (2003, University of California Press, Berkeley.)
• Michael B. Schiffer, Michael J. O'Brien , R. Lee Lyman : Archeology as a Process: Processualism and its Progeny. (2005, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.)
• Michael B. Schiffer, James M. Skibo ; People and Things: a Behavioral Approach to Material Culture. (2008, Springer, New York.)
• Michael B. Schiffer: Power Stuggles: Scientific Authority and the Creation of Practical Electricity Before Edison. (2008, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.)

Web links

• Homepage of Michael Brian Schiffer , University of Arizona

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Entry on Michael Brian Schiffer on the University of Arizona website
2. ↑ Stephen Plog: The Inference of Prehistoric Social Organization from Ceramic Design Variability in Michigan Discussions in Anthropology, vol. 1-4
3. ^ Steve Kuhn Named Riecker Distinguished Professor , University of Arizona School of Anthropology