Raymond Firth

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Raymond Firth, around 1965

Sir Raymond William Firth , CNZM (born March 25, 1901 in Auckland , † February 22, 2002 in London ) was a New Zealand ethnologist and anthropologist .

Life

Raymond William Firth was born on March 25, 1901 in Auckland , New Zealand, grew up there and studied economics at the Auckland University College , which later became the University of Auckland . There he completed his Master of Arts in 1924 with a thesis on the Kauri resin industry. In the mid-1920s he went to London to graduate with a doctorate in economics from the London School of Economics . But even during his school days, interested Firth for Anthropology and found in London a renewed access to it, when he saw the Polish social anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski met who inspired him. In 1927 his first work was “ Maori Hill-Forts ” and after spending a year on the small island of Tikopia in the Pacific Ocean , he published his first book in 1929 with “ Primitive Economics of the New Zealand Maori ” with Bronisław Malinowski in the work " We, the Tikopia: A Sociological Study of Kinship in Primitive Polynesia " his research results from Tikopia.

From 1930 to 1932 Firth taught for two years at the University of Sydney , went back to the London School of Economics in London in 1933 and lived with his wife in a fishing village in Malaysia for a research project from 1939 to 1940 . During the Second World War he wrote manuals on the Pacific Islands for the British Admiralty and when Bronisław Malinowski died in 1944, he was appointed professor and head of the Anthropology Department at the London School of Economics . He remained at this prestigious academic institution until his retirement in 1968. Then took over Firth has taught at various universities in the world, such as at the Stanford University in California , at the Cornell University in the state of New York , at universities in British Columbia , on Hawaii and New Zealand and took on a visiting professorship at the University of Chicago from 1971 to 1972.

During his creative period Firth wrote over twenty works and was involved in numerous publications.

Raymond William Firth died at the age of 100 on February 22, 2002 in London. The Guardian referred to him in an obituary as the

"Founding father of British anthropology whose perspective was shaped by his experience of New Zealand's expropriated Maoris"

"Founding father of British anthropology, whose perspective was shaped by his experience with the dispossessed New Zealand Maoris."

- Maurice Bloch : The Guardian

family

Firth had a son with his wife, Rosemary , who was also an anthropologist and whom he married as Rosemary Upcott in 1936. His wife died a year before him at the age of 66.

Works

  • 1927 - Maori Hill forts . In: Antiquity . 1927 (English).
  • 1929 - Primitive Economics of the New Zealand Maori . Routledge , London 1929 (English).
  • 1936 - We, the Tikopia: A Sociological Study of Kinship in Primitive Polynesia . George Allen & Unwin , London 1936 (English).
  • 1938 - Human Types: An Introduction to Social Anthropology . T. Nelson and Sons , London, New York 1938 (English).
  • 1939 - Primitive Polynesian Economy . Routledge & Sons , London 1939 (English).
  • 1946 - Malay Fishermen Their Peasant Economy . K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. , London 1946 (English).
  • 1947 - Human types . Nelson , London 1947 (English).
  • 1951 - Elements of Social Organization . Josiah Mason lectures delivered at the University of Birmingham . Watts , London 1951 (English).
  • 1956 - Two studies of kinship in London . Athlone Press, University of London , London 1956 (English).
  • 1959 - Economics of the New Zealand Maori . RE Owen, Government Printer , Wellington 1959 (English).
  • 1959 - Social Change in Tikopia . Re-study of a Polynesian Community after a Generation . George Allen & Unwin , London 1959 (English).
  • 1961 - History and Traditions of Tikopia . Polynesian Society , Wellington 1961 (English).
  • 1961 - Elements of Social Organization . Beacon Press , Boston 1961 (English).
  • 1962 - Tipos humanos . una introducción a la anthropología social . Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires , Buenos Aires 1962 (Spanish).
  • 1963 - A study in Ritual Modification . The Work of the Gods in Tikopia in 1929 and 1952 . Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland , London 1963 (English).
  • 1964 - Man and Culture: An Evaluation of the Works of Bronislaw Malinowski . Harper and Row , New York 1964 (English).
  • 1964 - Essays on social organization and values . University of London , London 1964 (English).
  • 1967 - Tikopia Ritual and Belief . Allen & Unwin , London 1967 (English).
  • 1970 - Rank and Religion in Tikopia . A Study in Polynesian Paganism and Conversion to Christianity . Allen & Unwin , London 1970 (English).
  • 1973 - Symbols: Public and Private . Allen & Unwin , London 1973 (English).
  • 1979 - Art and life in New Guinea . AMS Press , 1979 (English).
  • 1981 - Essays on Social Organization and Values . Athlone Press , London 1981 (English).
  • 1984 - Ethnographic research . A Guide to General Conduct . Academic Press , London 1984 (English).
  • 1990 - Tikopia Songs . Poetic and Musical Art of a Polynesian People of the Solomon Islands . Cambridge University Press , Cambridge 1990 (English).
  • 1996 - religion . A humanist interpretation . Routledge , London, New York 1996 (English).

Source: WorldCat
Note: The list is by no means exhaustive

Awards

literature

  • Bradd Shore : Obituary - Sir Raymond Firth (1901-2002) . In: Nature . Vol 416, March 28, 2002 . Macmillian Magazines Ltd, 2002 (English, Online [PDF; 367 kB ; accessed on December 10, 2019]).
  • Sutti Ortiz : Sir Raymond Firth . In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society . Vol. 148, no. 1, March 2004 , 2004 (English, online [PDF; 207 kB ; accessed on December 10, 2019]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ortiz : Sir Raymond Firth . In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society . 2004, p.  131 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Shore : Obituary - Sir Raymond Firth (1901-2002) . In: Nature . 2002, p.  384 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Ortiz : Sir Raymond Firth . In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society . 2004, p.  132 .
  4. ↑ Maurice Bloch : Sir Raymond Firth . The Guardian , February 26, 2002, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  5. ^ Professor Sir Raymond Firth . The Telegraph , February 26, 2002, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  6. ^ Raymond William Firth . WorldCat , accessed December 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Raymond W. Firth. In: American Philosophical Society - Member History. American Philosophical Society, 2012, accessed August 5, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Firth, Raymond
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Firth, Raymond William; Firth, Sir Raymond William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand ethnologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Auckland , New Zealand
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 2002
Place of death London , UK