Ralph Piddington

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Ralph O'Reilly Piddington (born February 19, 1906 in Sydney , Australia, † July 8, 1974 in Takapuna ) was an Australian anthropologist and psychologist .

He graduated from the University of Sydney in the late 1920s. In 1930 and 1931 he undertook anthropological research in Northwest Australia. In 1932 he went to London to continue his studies at the London School of Economics , where he stayed for the next six years. After earning his Ph.D. In 1936 he worked as a teacher and at the anthropological museum of the University of Aberdeen from 1938 . He returned to Australia in 1944 to work with the Australian Army's Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs.

He was subordinate to Colonel Jack Keith Murray of the School of Civil Affairs, Duntroon , which later became the Australian School of Pacific Administration , which was responsible for the training of officials who later worked in the Australian Territory of Papua and New Guinea .

He returned to Great Britain in 1946, where he had been appointed Reader for Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh . In 1949 he was appointed founding professor of anthropology at the University of New Zealand ( Auckland ), a position he held until his retirement in 1972. One of his first students there was Joan Metge .

His anthropological work on the totemic system of the Karadjeri , which first appeared in the journal Oceania and had a certain influence on La Mythologie primitive , the late work of Lucien Lévy-Bruhl , is famous .

Marjorie Eileen Piddington (nee Barnes) was his first wife.

Works

  • with Marjorie Eileen M. Piddington: Report on Field Work in North-Western Australia, in: Oceania 2, 1932, pp. 342-358.
  • The Psychology of Laughter. London, Figurehead 1933
  • An Introduction to Social Anthropology. 2 volumes. Edinburgh 1950 and 1957

literature

  • Geoffrey Gray, "Piddington's indiscretion": Ralph Piddington, the Australian National Research Council and Academic freedom. In: Oceania vol. 64 (3), Maerz, 1994. pp. 217-245.
  • Geoffrey Gray, '“[I] n view of the obvious animus”: The discrediting of Ralph Piddington. In: Aboriginal History, vol. 21, 1997, pp. 113-132.
  • Geoffrey Gray, 'a triune anthropologist appears' ?: Gerhardt Laves, Ralph Piddington and Marjorie Piddington, La Grange Bay, 1930, In: Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2006/1, pp. 23–35.
  • Geoffrey Gray and Doug Munro, 'Establishing anthropology and Maori language (studies), Auckland University College: the appointment of Ralph Piddington, 1949', in: Regna Darnell and Frederic W Gleach (Eds.), Histories of Anthropology Annual, Volume 7, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2012, pp. 49-82.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Piddington, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Piddington, Ralph O'Reilly (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian anthropologist and psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Sydney , Australia
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 1974
Place of death Takapuna