Igor Kopytoff

Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
Contact Information


Major Research Interests

I am a general practitioner in cultural anthropology, with an ethnographic focus on Africa and with some past research in northern Asia. More specifically, my interests, research, and publications deal with social structure, political organization, and religion - and the process of transformation in them. I have also worked and published on slavery as a general cultural phenomenon, with a special interest in indigenous slavery in Africa as a culture-historical phenomenon. I have done fieldwork in the Congo, Cameroon, and the Ivory Coast.

Contact Information


IGOR KOPYTOFF
Professor of Anthropology

Dept.of Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia. Pa 19104-6398

kopytoff@sas.upenn.edu

Born April 16, 1930, in Mukden, China. Raised in Shanghai, where attended French primary school (Ste. Jeanne d’Arc) and English secondary school (St. Francis Xavier’s College). In 1948 moved to Chile (Santiago and Chuquicamata), in 1950
to British East Africa (Tanganyika and Kenya), and in 1951 to the United States (Evanston, Ill).

HIGHER EDUCATION: Northwestern University (B.A./Anthropology 1955, Ph.D./Anthropology 1960) and the University of Pennsylvania (M.A./Anthropology, 1958).
Ph.D. field research (1957-59) among the Suku of the southwestern (then Belgian) Congo. Other field research: Mbato of southern Ivory Coast (1964) and Aghem (of Wum) of western Cameroon (1969 & 1971)
Theses:
B.A.: Forced Acculturation in Two Siberian Tribes (1955)
M.A.: Cultural and Ecological Areas of Northern Asia (1957)
Ph.D: Suku Religion (1960)

Primary Academic Appointments:
  1960-62: Instructor, Brown University.
  1962‑66: Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania.
  1966‑77: Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania.
  1977‑present: Professor, University of Pennsylvania.
Visiting Positions:
  Visiting Assistant Prof., Univ.of California‑Berkeley: 1963.
  Visiting Professor, Bryn Mawr College, Spring 1973.
  Visiting Scholar, Anthropology Department, School of Oriental and African Studies. London. 1975‑76.
  Visiting Professor, University of Montreal: 1983‑84.
  Honorary Research Assoc., Dept.of Anthropology, McGill Univ. 1984-85.

  Visiting Researcher, Fac.of Psychology, Leuven Univ., 1992. 

Honors, Fellowships, Grants:
  B.A. (Northwestern) High Honors and Departmental Honors 1955.
  Phi Beta Kappa, 1955. Sigma Xi, 1960.
  Undergrad.Research Fellow, Soc.Science Research Council, 1954‑55.
  Woodrow Wilson-SSRC Graduate Fellow, 1955‑56.
  Northwestern University Fellow, 1956‑57.

  Ford Foundation Foreign‑Area Progr.Fellow (Africa), 1957‑60.
  Social Science Research Council Grant, 1964.
  National Science Foundation Travel Grant, Moscow 1964.
  National Science Foundation Summer Grant, 1965.
  Wenner‑Gren Foundation Travel Grant, W‑G Conference, Burg Wartenstein,Austria 1966.         
  Wenner‑Gren Foundation Travel Grant, Association of Social     Anthropologists Conference, Cambridge, England, 1969.
  National Science Foundation Research Grant (Wum, Western Cameroon) 1969‑70 & 1971.
  National Science Foundation Travel Grant ‑ CNRS Conf., Paris, 1973.
  National Endowment for the Humanities, Research Fellow, 1975‑76.
  Social Science Research Council Research Grant, 1983‑84.
  National Endowment for the Humanities Research Grant, 1984.
  John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, 1984‑85.
  University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation Grant, 1986-87
  Choice Award: Outstanding Academic Book 1987 (The African Frontier)
  University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation Grant,1996‑97.
  Distinguished Guest Speaker, Naturalization Ceremony, US Court House, August 13, 1997
 
Professional Activities:
  Consultant, President Kennedy's Task Force on the Congo, 1961
  President, Philadelphia Anthropological Society, 1964‑65 & 1987‑88
  Selection Committee, Ford Foundation Foreign Area Fellowship       Program, 1965‑67
  African Studies Assoc. Research Liaison Committee, 1967‑70
  Joint SSRC‑ACLS Committee on African Studies, 1968‑71      
  Associate Editor, American Anthropologist, 1966‑70         
  Editor, Univ.of Penn.Publications in Anthropology, 1973‑75
  Member, Editorial Board of Expedition. 1987‑present
 
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                     PUBLICATIONS

Monograph:
1955 The Samoyed, Indiana Univ./Human Relations Area Files Uralic Series Monographs. New Haven: HRAF, xiii, 225pp.
Edited Books:
1977 (with Suzanne Miers) Slavery in Africa: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives. Introduction by I. Kopytoff and Suzanne Miers. Madison: Univ.of Wisc.Press. xvii, 474pp. (and pprbck ed. 1985).
1987 The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies. Introduction by Igor Kopytoff. Bloomington: Indiana Univ.Press., viii, 288pp. (And pprbck ed. 1990).

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Collaboration:
     1966 (research collaborator in) Marshall H. Segall, Donald T. Campbell, and Melville J. Herskovits, The Influence of Culture on Visual Perception. Indianapolis: Bobbs‑Merrill.
     1971 (area consultant) Bertha Davis, The Ways of Man: An Introduction to Many Cultures. NY: Macmillan.
     1997 (editorial board) The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Junius P. Rodriguez (general editor), Sta Barbara, Cal.: ABC-Clio, 2 vols.

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ARTICLES, BOOK REVIEWS, BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS:

1961 Extension of Conflict as a Method of Conflict Resolution       among the Suku of the Congo. J.of Conflict Resolution          5:61‑69.
---- What Went Wrong in the Belgian Congo. Supplement, Brown        Daily Herald, v.4, no.2, February 14, pp.5‑6, 14‑15.
---- [Review of:] Alan P. Merriam, Congo: Background of             Conflict. Science v.134, No.3472, July 14, p.94.     
---- [Review of:] Alvin Wolfe, In the Ngombe Tradition. Science      v.134, No.3492, December 1961, p.1747.
1962 The Training of American Anthropologists as Africanists.       Annals,N.Y. Academy of Sciences 96(2):629‑33.
---- [Review of:] Colin M. Turnbull, The Forest People. Africa      Report 7(5):20.
1963 [Review of:] Colin Legum, Congo Disaster. American             Anthropologist 65:171‑72.
---- [Review of:] D.A.0l'derogge and I.I.Potekhin (eds.),           Narody Afriki and Die Volker Afrikas. American                 Anthropologist 65:162‑66.
---- [Review of:] Robert F. Gray, The Sonjo of Tanganyika.          Science v.141, No.3578, 26 July, p.347.
1964 The Mother's Brother in South Africa Revisited. American       Anthropologist 66:625‑28.
---- Socialism and Traditional African Societies. In William H.      Friedland and Carl G. Rosberg (eds), African Socialism.        Stanford University Press, pp.53‑62.
---- Family and Lineage among the Suku of the Congo. In Robert      F. Gray and Philip H. Gulliver (eds.), The Family Estate       in Africa. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, and Boston:         Boston Univ. Press, pp.83‑116.
---- Classification of Religious Movements: Analytical and          Synthetic. Proceedings, American Ethnological Society,         (June Helm, ed., New Trends in the Study of Religion),         pp.77-90.
‑‑-- [Review of:] Barrie Reynolds, Magic, Divination and            Witchcraft in Northern Rhodesia. Africa Report 9(5):27‑28.
---- Bibliographies. In Melville J. Herskovits, Cultural            Dynamics, abr.ed., N.Y.: Knopf, pp.249-60.
1965 [Anon.] Africa: The Background. Guide to the Collection,       University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania,           pp.111‑17.
---- The Suku of Southwestern Congo. In James L. Gibbs, Jr. ed.      Peoples of Africa. New York: Holt,Rinehart & Winston,          pp.441-78.
---- [Review of:] Philip D. Curtin, Image of Africa: British        Ideas and Action, 1780‑1850. American Anthropologist           67:1606‑08.
1966 [Review of:] Georges Niangoran‑Bouah, La division du temps      et le calendrier rituel des peuples lagunaires de Cote         d'Ivoire. American Anthropologist 68:249.
1967 [Review of:] Richard Burton, First Steps in East Africa &      A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahomey. Science v.156,           No.3776,p.791.
1970 A Theoretical Analysis of Witchcraft in Southwestern           Congo. VIIth International Congress of Anthropological and      Ethnological Sciences, Moscow, 1964. v.8:105‑9.
1971 Ancestors as Elders in Africa. Africa 41:129‑42.          ---- The Suku: An Ethnographic Test of Hsu's Hypothesis. In         Francis L.K. Hsu (ed), Kinship and Culture. Chicago:           Aldine, pp.69‑86.­
1972 [Review of:] E.M.Chilver and P.M.Kaberry, Traditional          Bamenda. Man 7:664.
1973 [Review of:] Colin M. Turnbull, The Mountain People. The       Sunday Bulletin (Philadelphia), April 8, Sec.2, p.8.
1974 Congo, Peoples of. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed.          v.4:1118‑23.
---‑ Franz Boas. Encycl. of American Biography, John A. Garraty      & Jerome L.Sternstein (eds.), N.Y.:Harper and Row,             pp.111‑12.
1976 [Review of:] Mark W. DeLancey and Virginia H. Delancey, A      Bibliography of Cameroon. J.of Asian and African Studies       12(1‑4):274.
1977 (with Suzanne Miers) African 'Slavery' as an Institution       of Marginality. Introduction, pp.1‑81, in S.Miers and          I.Kopytoff (eds), Slavery in Africa: Historical and            Anthropological Perspectives. Madison: Univ.of Wisconsin       Press.
---- Matrilineality, Residence, and Residential Zones. American      Ethnologist 4:539‑58.
---- Speculations about the Internal African Frontier. African      Studies Association Papers 1977, 8pp.
1978 Suku Epistemology and the Ancestors. African Studies           Association Papers 1978, 11pp.
---- (with Barbara K. Kopytoff) A First Step Toward                 Understanding African Sculpture. Catalogue of Exhibit:         Traditional African Art, Lehigh University, Jan.27 to          March 2, 1978.
---- [Reissue] The Suku of Southwestern Congo. In James L.          Gibbs, Jr. (ed), Peoples of Africa., 2nd edition of 1965       (above), New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, pp.245‑81.
1979 Indigenous African Slavery: Commentary One. In Michael         Craton (ed), Roots and Branches: Current Directions in         Slave Studies. Toronto: Pergamon, pp.62‑77.
1980 Revitalization and the Genesis of Cults in Pragmatic           Religion: The Kita Rite of Passage among the Suku. In Ivan      Karp and Charles S. Bird (eds), Explorations in African        Systems of Thought. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press,          pp‑183‑212
---- [Brief Communic.:] A. L. Kroeber , R.A.I.N., No.40,            October, p.8
1981 Knowledge and Belief in Suku Thought. Africa 51:709‑23.
---- Aghem Ethnogenesis and the Grassfields Ecumene. In Claude      Tardits (ed), Contribution de la recherche ethnologique a      l'histoire des civilisations du Cameroun (Colloques            Internationaux du C.N.R.S., No.551). Paris: Centre             National de la Recherche Scientifique, vol.2:371‑81.
‑‑‑- [Brief Communic.] The Authority of Ancestors. Man              16(1):135‑37.
1982 Slavery. Annual Review of Anthropology v.11:207‑31.
---- [Brief Communic.] The Authority of Ancestors. Man              17(3):548.
---- [Review of:] Abner Cohen, The Politics of Elite Culture:       Explorations in the Dramaturgy of Power in a Modern            African Society. 1981. American J. of Sociology                87(5):1195‑97.
---- [Brief Communic.} A Banquet of Scholarship. In Robert          Plant Armstrong (ed.), William Bascom: In Memoriam.            African Arts, XVI(2):26,89-93, p.90.
1984 [Brief Communic.] On the Viability of Sibling Marriages: A      Comment on McCabe's Argument. American Anthropologist          86:407‑8.
1985 [Review of:] Wyatt MacGaffey, Modern Kongo Prophets:           Religion in a Plural Society, 1983. American Ethnologist,      12:392‑93.
1986 The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as           Process. In Arjun Appadurai (ed), The Social Life of           Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, NY: Cambridge      U.Press, pp.64‑‑91.
---- [Brief Communic.] Authenticity. Anthropology Today,            2(3):24, June.
1987 The Internal African Frontier: The making of African           Political Culture. Introduction to: Igor Kopytoff (ed.),       The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional          African Societies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,      pp.3‑83.
---- [Reissue:] Revitalization and the Genesis of Cults in          Pragmatic Religion: The Kita Rite of Passage among the         Suku. In Ivan Karp and Charles S. Bird (eds), Explorations      in African Systems of Thought. 2nd ed. (see 1980, above).      Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC, pp.183‑212.
‑‑‑‑ "Linton, Ralph" (v.12, p.339),
     "Levi‑Strauss, Claude" v.12,p.219),
     "Morgan, Lewis Henry" (v.13, p.808),
     "Sapir, Edward" (v.17, p.121),
     "Schliemann, Heinrich" (v.17. p.177).
      IN The World Book Encyclopedia.
1988 The Cultural Context of African Abolition. In Suzanne          Miers and Richard Roberts (eds.), The End of Slavery in        Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.                pp.485‑503.
---‑ Public Culture: A Durkheimian Genealogy. Public Culture        1(1):11‑16.
---- [Review of:] Sally Falk Moore, Social Facts and                Fabrications: Customary law on Kilimanjaro, 1880‑1980. The      Journal of Interdisciplinary History 19:381‑383.
‑‑‑‑ George Peter Murdock's Contributions to African Studies.       In Ward H. Goodenough (ed.), George Peter Murdock:             Retrospective Assessment. Behavioral Science Research,         22:41‑49.
1989 [Reissue:] The Suku of Southwestern Congo. In James L.         Gibbs, Jr. (ed.), Peoples Africa., 3nd edition. Prospect       Heights. Ill.: Waveland Press, pp.245‑81.
1990 Women's Roles and Existential Identities. In Peggy Sanday      and Ruth Goodenough (eds.), Beyond the Second Sex: New         Directions in the Anthropology of Gender. Philadelphia:        University of Pennsylvania Press. pp.77‑98.
1991 'Medicines' and the Sexual Transmission of Disease among       the Suku of Zaire with some relevance to AIDS). In Anita       Jacobson‑Widding (ed.), Body and Space: Symbolic Models of      Unity and Division in African Cosmology and Experience.        Uppsala:Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology No.16         and Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.303‑314.
---- (Co-Author) Annual Report, 1990-91 Senate Committee on         Academic Freedom and Responsibility - May 6, 1991. Almanac      (Univ.of Penn.), Sept.17, p.2.
1992 [Review of:] Wyatt MacGaffey, Art and Healing of the           Bakongo Commented by Themselves: Minkisi from the Laman        Collection. Ethnos 57:246‑247.
1993 The Roman Frontier and the Uses of Comparison. In Patrice      Brun, Sander van der Leeuw and Charles R. Whittaker            (eds.), Frontieres d'Empire: Nature et signification des       frontieres romaines. Table Ronde Internationale de Nemours 1992 Memoires du Musee de Prehistoire d'Ile‑de‑France No.5,         pp.143‑147.
‑‑‑‑ [Review of:] Claude Meillassoux, The Anthropology of           Slavery: The Womb of Iron and Gold, American Ethnologist       20:391.
‑‑‑‑ [REPRINTS from:] "Slavery in Africa" (1977) and                "Commentary, on Paul Lovejoy" (1979). In R.O.Collins           (ed.), Problems in African History. NY & Princeton:            Markus Wiener.
1994 Leisure, Boredom, and Luxury Consumerism: The Lineage Mode      of Consumption in a Central African Society. In Jonathan       Friedman (ed.), Consumption and Identity, Reading (U.K.):      Harwood Academic Publishers, pp.163‑187.
---- [Review of:] Willis, John Ralph (ed.), Slaves and Slavery      in Muslim Africa, 2 vols, J. of Religion in Africa, XXIV,      3:282‑283.
1995 L.H.Morgan, (Comment on) Mechanistic Materialism and the       Contradictions of the Capitalist System: The Soviet            Response to Leslie White, c.1932, History of                     Anthropology Newsletter, 22(l):7‑9.
  ---- Anthropology as History: Critiques by Our "Others."            Anthropology Newsletter, May, pp.12‑13.
  ---- [Review of:] Lovejoy, P.E. and J.S. Hogendorn, Slow            Death for Slavery: The Course of Abolition in Northern         Nigeria, 1897‑1936. J. of the Royal Anthropological            Institute, 1(4):850‑851.
  ---- [Review of:] Rene Devisch, Weaving the Thread of Life:         The Khita Gyn‑Eco‑Logical Healing Cult among the Yaka,         American Anthropologist 97(2):407.
  1996 Slavery, The Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology,            David Levinson and Melvin Ember (eds.), v.4,                   pp.1190‑1194, NY: Holt.
  1997 Slavery and Servile Institutions: Anthropological              Perspectives. The Encyclopedia of Sub‑Saharan Africa,          John Middleton (ed.). NY: Simon and Schuster. v.4,             pp.110-13.
  ---- Frontiers and Frontier Societies. The Encyclopedia of          Sub‑Saharan Africa, John Middleton (ed.). NY: Simon and        Schuster. v.2, pp.170-72.
  ---- Slavery, Thomas Barfield (ed.), The Dictionary of              Anthropology, Oxford: Blackwell, pp.426-27.
  ---- [Review of:] Davidson, Andrew P., In the Shadow of             History: The Passing of Lineage Society, 1996. J. of the        Royal Anthropological Institute, v.3(4):812-13. 
  1998 Suku. Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Vol.IX: Africa and        the Middle East, John Middleton and Amal Rassam (eds.).        Boston: G.K.Hall & Co. pp.320-323.
  ---- Anthropology of Slavery. Macmillan Encyclopedia of World        Slavery, vol.1. Paul Finkelman & Joseph C. Miller             (eds.). NY: Simon and Schuster Macmillan. pp.78-80.
  ---- Perspectives on Slavery: Definitions. Macmillan                Encyclopedia of World Slavery, vol.2. Paul Finkelman &         Joseph C. Miller (eds.). NY: Simon and Schuster                Macmillan. pp.676-683.
  1999 The Internal African Frontier: Cultural Conservatism and        Ethnic Innovation. In: Michael Roesler & Tobias Wendl          (eds.), Frontiers and Borderlands: Anthropological             Perspectives. (Essays in Honor of Dr. Johannes W. Raum.)        Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Pp. 31-44.
  ---- Permutations in Patrimonialism and Populism: The Aghem         Chiefdoms of Western Cameroon. In Susan Keech McIntosh         (ed.), Beyond Chiefdoms: Pathways to Complexity in             Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp.         88-96.   
  ---- Barbara (Klamon) Kopytoff (Obituary). Anthropology News,        v. 40(7), pp.39-40.
  2001 Ecumene. In Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (eds.),         The Internation Encyclopedia of the Social and                 Behavioral Sciences, Oxford: Elsevier
  2002 Ancestors. In V. Y. Mudimbe (ed.), Encyclopedia of             African Religions and Philosophy. NY: Garland.
  ---- Protsess etnogeneza v Yugo-Zapadnom Kongo-Zaire:               Vozniknovenie etnoca Suku (Ethnogenesis in Southwestern        Congo-Zaire: The Emergence of Suku Ethnicity.) In              Ethnologica Africana, In Memory of Dmitri Alexeyevich          Olderogge, ed. N.B.Kochakova. Moscow: :Muravey," Russian        Academy of Sciences, Institute for African Studies,                Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and                     Ethnography,Kunstkammer. pp.234-250.
2004 Obituary of Wm. H. Davenport, U of Pa Almanac, Apr.6,          v.50, No.28
---- Obituary of Wm. H. Davenport. Philadelphia Inquirer,Apr.7
---- Obituary of Wm. H. Davenport. Anthropology Newsletter          (Amer.Anthrop.Assoc.), May 2004, p.35.
2004 Commoditizing Kinship in America. In Janelle S. Taylor         (ed) Consuming Motherhood. Piscataway, NJ, Rutgers             Univ.Press, pp.271-278.

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REPRINTED ARTICLES

       1961 Extension of Conflict as a Method of Conflict             Resolution among the Suku of the Congo. J.of                   Conflict Resolution 5:61‑69.
            reprinted in: J.David Singer (ed.), Human Behavior and International Politics. Chicago: Rand McNally, pp.417‑27. 1965

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       1968 Research Climate in Francophone Western Africa            and Liberia: Report on a Mission for the Research              Liaison Comittee. African Studies Bulletin, April,             pp.67‑76.
           reprinted in: Research Traditions in West Africa, FAR Horizons, Foreign Area Research Coordinating Group, Washington, D.C., v.1, No.2 (March), p.11. 1968.

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       1971 Ancestors as Elders in Africa. Africa                     41:129‑42.         
           reprinted in: Peter Hammond (ed), Cultural and Social Anthropology: Introductory Readings in Ethnology. New York:  Macmillan, pp.282‑92. 1975.
           reprinted in Bobbs‑Merill Reprint Series in Anthropology, No.A‑501. 1975
           reprinted in: Roy Richard Grinker and Christopher B. Steiner (eds.), Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 412-21.1997
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       1977 (portions of) “Slavery in Africa” and 1979                     (portions of)“Commentary on Paul Lovejoy”
          reprinted in: R.O.Collins (ed.), Problems in African History. NY & Princeton: Markus Wiener. 1993.
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       1986 The Cultural Biography of Things:                         Commoditization as Process. In Arjun Appadurai                 ed), The Social Life of Things: Commodities in                 Cultural Perspective, NY: Cambridge U.Press,                   pp.64‑‑91.

 

         reprinted in: Thomas H. Eriksen (ed.), Sosialantropologiske Grunntekster. Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal. pp.427-53. 1996.
         reprinted in: Julian Thomas (ed), Interpretive Archaeology: A Reader. London: Leicester University Press, pp. 377-397.2000.
         reprinted in Daniel Miller (ed.), Consumption: Critical Concepts. London, Routledge. 2001.
               reprinted in Routledge's Essays on Material Culture. Oxford.2001.
        reprinted & translated in Kulturowa biografia rzeczy, Badanie Kultury: Elementi teorii antropologiczneyMarian Kempny & Ewa Nowicka (eds) Warszawa: Wydanictwo Naukowe Pwn. pp.249-274.2004.
        reprinted and translated in: Gli attrezzi pervivere. Milano, Vita e Penssiero, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. 2004
        reprinted in Readings in Economics. NY: New York University Press. 2004.
        reprinted & translated into Chinese. Andrew Gardner (ed) Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press. 2004
        reprinted in Material Culture: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences. Vol.II, Routledge. London and New York. 2004.

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         1990 Women's Roles and Existential Identities. In              Peggy Sanday and Ruth Goodenough (eds) Beyond the              Second Sex. Univ.of Penn. Press, pp.77-98
        reprinted in African Gender Studies: Theoretical Questions and Conceptual Issues. O.Oyewumi (ed). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2004
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

1966 Kennedy Plan for Indonesia Recalled. New York Times,
     Feb.28.
1968 Ethical Surveillance Committee. Anthropology Newsletter        (American Anthropological Association), 10(10):10, Dec.
1977 Capital Gains Tax. N.Y. Times, Financial Sec., Oct. 30,        p.16.
---- On Medical Insurance. Almanac (Univ.of Penn.), June 14,p.3
---- Invasion of Privacy. Almanac (Univ.of Penn.), Nov.15, p.3
1978 American Ethnologist Criticized. Anthropology Newsletter       (American Anthropological Association), 19(1):14-15, Jan. ---- AE Policy Queried. Anthropology Newsletter (American Anthropological Association), 19(5):28, May.
1979 Fevers, Humors, and Race Classification (Letter).              Anthropology Newsletter (American Anthropological              Association), 20(7):2, October.
1981 Does Probability Equal Guilt? Anthropology Newsletter          American Anthropological Association), 22(6):2, September.

 

1982 Tasteless Cartoons. Daily Pennsylvanian, Jan.28, 1982,p.4.
---- United Nations. The Economist, Nov.13, p.4.
1983 Squatter's Rights? Almanac, Univ. of Pennsylvania, March       p.1, p.4.
1985 [co-author:] Reduce the Gross Inequities. Almanac,             University of Pennsylvania, March 12, p.4.
1986 Anti-Hijacking. The Economist, v.301, no.7466, Oct.4, p.4.
---- Misspelling Names. Anthropology Newsletter (American           Anthropological Association), 27(6):2, September.
---- [co-author:] On Pennflex Publicity. Alamanac (Univ.of          Penn.), March 17, p.4.
1989 Above the Law. Daily Pennsylvanian, Nov.2, p.4.
---- Famous Fudgers. Almanac, Univ.of Pennsylvania, Oct.17,p.3.
---- Scholarism: A New Misdeed? Almanac, University of              Pennsylvania, Nov.14, p.4.
1991 Conflict on Misconduct. Almanac (Univ.of Penn.)Oct.15,p.2.
---- More on Misconduct Policy. Almanac (Univ.of Penn.), Nov.5, p.3.
---- Again, Misconduct in Research. Almanac (Univ.of Penn.), Dec.3, p.3. 
1992 [co-author of quoted report] Quoting SCAFR. Alamanac           Univ.of Penn.), May 12, p.9.
1993 Japan to the Rescue. Philadelphia Inquirer, July 30,p.A18.
1996 Off-putting Cartoon. Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan.1, p.A6.
---- U.S.A. for Africa. Lingua Franca, July-August, pp.5/66
1997 Odds Against. The Economist, April 19th, p.8.
2000 Private School, Public Debate, Student’s Expulsion.
     The Inquirer (Philadelphia). Jan.18, p.A10
---- Smoking Related. The Economist, August 5, p.8.

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ORAL PRESENTATIONS

1961 The Training of Anthropologists as Africanists. New York       Academy of Sciences Symposium, Anthropology and Africa.        April.
---- An Intellectualist Interpretation of Religious Change.         Columbia University Anthropology Colloquim, March.
---- The Tribalisms of Southwestern Congo. Panel: African           Tribalism: Its Traditional Patterns, Changing Concepts of      the Moral Community and the Person. Conference, American       Society for African Culture and the Univ.of Pennsylvania       Departments of Philosophy, International Relations, and        Anthropology. University of Pennsylvania, April 24.
---- Chairing Session, Background to Congo Independence.            Meetings, African Studies Association, October, New York.
---- The Congo. Background to Congo Independence. Meetings,         African Studies Association, October, New York.
---- Lectures on African History. Peace Corps Training Program.      University of California, Los Angeles, July.
---- Member, Panel, Educational Systems of Central Africa.          UNESCO Conference: Africa and the United States. Boston.       October.
---- Patrilocality in a Matrilineal Society. Meetings, American      Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, November.
---- Anti‑Witchcraft Movements among the Suku. Philadelphia         Anthropological Society. Spring.
---- Residence and Descent among the Suku. Colloquium, Dept. of      Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania. Spring.
1963 The Meaning of Tribalism in Africa. Conference on              Sub‑Saharan Africa, University of Pennsylvania, Jan. 23­
 --- Suku Values in Proverbs. African Studies Colloquium. I         Indiana University.  Bloomington. Spring.
---- African Religious Movements: Indigenous versus                 Acculturative Factors. Meetings, African Studies               Association, San Francisco, October 24‑26.
1964 A Theoretical Analysis of Witchcraft in Southwestern           Congo. Meetings, International Congress of Anthropological      and Ethnological Sciences, Moscow, August.
---- Traditional Cultures of Africa. Lecture at Foreign Service      Institute, Washington, D.C. December 1.
---- Tradition and Modernity in the Ivory Coast. Philadelphia       Anthropological Society. Fall.
1965 Cultural Change in the Ivory Coast. African Studies            Colloquium, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Spring.
---- Culture Change: Appearance and Reality. Anthropology           Colloquium, Brown University. Fall
---- African Proto‑History. Lecture at Foreign Service              Institute, Washington, D.C., August 18.
1966 Suku Kingship and Contemporary Politics. Meetings, African      Studies Association, Bloomington, Indiana. October 26‑29.
---- Some Problems of Classification of African Religious           Movements. Meetings, American Anthropological Association,      November, Denver.
---- Suku Kinship and Hsu's Hypothesis. Wenner‑Gren Conference      on Kinship and Culture, Burg Wartenstein, Austria, August      19‑29.
1967 Labor Allocation among the Suku: The Economics of              Perpetual Depression. SSRC‑ACLS/Agricultural Development       Council Conference on Competing Demands for Time of Labor      in Traditional African Societies. Holly Knoll, Virginia,       October 19‑21.
---- The Matrilineage in the Face of Change in Southwestern         Congo. Meetings, African Studies Association, New York         City, November 1‑4.
---- Toward Composite Theories of Witchcraft. Anthropology          Colloquium, University of Delaware, March 8.
---- Theories of Witchcraft. Conference on Witchcraft,              Association of Social Anthropologists, at King's College,      Cambridge University, April.
1968 A Reinterpretation of the Notion of Witchcraft. African        Studies Colloquium. Indiana University. Bloomington.
---- Secret Power: A Redefinition of African Witchcraft and         Sorcery. African Studies Colloquium. University of             Wisconsin, Madison. November 14.
1973 Aghem Trade; Aghem History. Colloque sur l'histoire de         civilisations du Cameroun. Conseil National de la              Recherche Scientifique, Paris, September 24‑28.
1975 African Slavery. Anthropology Seminar, School of Oriental      and African Studies, London. September.
---- African Slavery. Anthropology Seminar, University              College/London. Dec.3.
1976 African Slavery. Anthropology Seminar, Cambridge               University. Jan. 23.
---- Some Aspects of Slavery in Africa. Anthropology Seminar,       University of Manchester. March 12.
---- Slavery in Pre‑Colonial Africa. University of Kent at          Canterbury. April 27.
1977 The Internal African Frontier. Meetings, African Studies       Association, Houston, Texas, November 2‑5.
---- African Rural Underdevelopment. Lecture, A.I.D. Training       Program, Department of State, Institute, Washington, D.C.      October 12.
---- Institutionalized Revitalization through Rites of Passage.      African Studies Colloquium, Indiana University,                Bloomigton, November 30.
1978 The Anthropology of Sorcery. Quinnipiac College, New           Haven, Conn.
---- (co-chair with S. Miers) Panel on: African Systems of          Slavery and their Social and Historical Context. African       Studies Assoc., Meetings, Philadelphia. Nov.              1979 Toward 'Decolonizing' the History of African Slavery.          Slave Studies Conference, University of Waterloo, Ontario,      March 14‑17.
1980 Commentator: Conference on the Ideology of African             Slavery, April 3‑4, York University, Ontario.
1984 La frontiere interne africaine. Anthropology Colloquium,       Universite de Montreal. February 21.
---- La frontiere interne africaine. Anthropology Colloquium,       Universite Laval, Quebec. February 29.
---- The Internal African Frontier: From Anthropology to            History and Back. Anthropology Colloquium, McGill              University, March 2.
---- The Cultural Biography of Things: Comnoditization as           Process. Symposium on Commodities and Culture, University      of Pennsylvania, Ethnohistory Program, May 23‑25.
1985 African Political Culture as a Frontier Phenomenon.            African Studies Colloqium, University of Toronto. February      5.
---- Commoditization as Cultural Process. Anthropology              Colloquium, McGill University, February 14.
---- Comment on Papers: Methods and Concepts in African             Studies. Joint Meetings of the Canadian Association for        African Studies and the Canadian Association for Latin         American and Caribbean Studies. May 15‑16, Montreal.
1986 George Peter Murdock's Contributions to African Studies.       Session: George Peter Murdock: Retrospective Assessment.       Meetings, American Anthropological Association,                Philadelphia, Dec. 3-7.
1987 The Self and the Structure of Social Identities among the      Suku of Zaire. Conference on Psychoanalysis and African        Societies. Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian             Institution, Washington, D.C. April 13‑14.
---- The Ritualization of Roles: What Kinds of Roles? The Third      Satterthwaite Colloquium on African Ritual and Symbolism,      University of Manchester. Satterthwaite, Cumbria, England.      April 21‑24.

 

---- The Significance of Gender in the "Contamination" by           "Medicines" among the Suku of Zaire. Conference on African      Folk Models and Their Application. Dept. of Cultural           Anthropology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden,          August 23‑30.
1988 Another Approach to Women's Roles. Colloquium, Concordia       University, Montreal, Feb.15.
1989 Women's Roles and Existential Identities. Anthropology         Dept. Seminar, University of Chicago. Oct. 2.
‑‑‑‑ Self‑Realization and the Conundrum of Leisure in a             Small‑Scale African  Society. Conference: "Commodities and      Cultural Strategies." University of Copenhagen. Nov. 26 &      27.
---- On Gender Roles. Colloquium, Center for Research in the        Humanities. University of Copenhagen. Nov. 27.
---‑ On Gender Roles. Dept.of Anthroplogy Colloquium.               University of Lund. November 29.
1990 Economic "Modernization" and the Reinforcement of              Matrilineality in a Central African Society. Session in        Honor of Francis L.K.Hsu. Annual Meetings, American            Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Nov.30.
---- Commentator, Session on Twins in Africa, Meetings, African      Studies Association.
---- Commentator, Session on "Contextualizing Kinship in Sub-       Saharan Africa." Meetings, African Studies Association,        St.Louis, Mo. Nov.24.
1992 Commentator, University of Manchester Conference on            African Religion, in Satterthwaite (Cumbria), April
‑‑‑‑ Labor‑time Allocation in a Central African Society.            Colloquium, African Studies Center, Leiden University, The      Netherlands, June 18.
--‑- Commentator, Table Ronde sur les Frontieres de l'Empire        Romain, Conference, Centre National de la Recherche            Scientifique, Nemours, May 21‑23.
‑‑‑‑ Theoretical Chiefdoms and African Realities. Annual            Meetings, American  Anthropological Assoc. S.Francisco,        Dec.2-6
1994 Time Allocation, Boredom and Consumerism: The Lineage Mode      of Consumption in a Horticultural Society. Colloquium,         Dept.of Anthropology, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Sept. 30.
1995 Commentator, Panel "What Happened to it? Exploring the         Life Histories of Artifacts," 21st Annual Conference,          Association of Art Historians, Victoria and Albert Museum,      London, 7‑9 April.
‑‑‑‑ Commentator, Panel "The Life History Approaches to the         Archaeology of Human Behavior," Annual Meetings, Society       for American Archeology, Minneapolis, May 3‑7.            ---- African Chiefdoms: Permutations in Populism and
     Patrimonialism. Colloquium, Dept.of Anthropology, Univ. of      Pennsylvania, Feb. 1.
‑‑‑‑ La monnaie peut‑elle inhiber la production des choses?         Public Lecture, Centre de sociologie de l'innovation          (Ecole Nationale Superieure de Mines), Paris. March 20.
---- Populism and Patrimonialism in African Political Culture.      Public Lecture, Dept. of Anthropology & J.B. Watson            Center, Brown University. April 19.

 

---- Presentation as member of a doctoral jury for Remi             Barbier's thesis: Une societe au rendez-vous de ses            dechets, March 29, 1996 at the Ecole des Mines de Paris.
---- African Chiefdoms:Permutations in Populism and                 Patrimonialism. Colloquium, Dept.of Anthropology, Univ.of      Penna. Feb. 1, 1996
1997 Distinguished Guest Speaker, Naturalization Ceremonies,        United States District Court, Eastern District of              Pennsylvania, August 13.
---- Populism and Patrimonialism in African Political Culture.
     Lecture for Africa Group, Univ.of Penn. April 19.
1998 Comment on Session, "Kinship and Consumption: A                Productive, Reproductive Paradox," Dec.4, Amer.Anth.Assoc.      Meetings, Philadelphia.
1999 “Where is Anthroplogy’s Romance with Cultural Relativism       Going?” Paper at Amer.Anth.Assoc. Annual Meetings, Nov.19,      Chicago.
---- Varieties of Religious Conversion, Talk to the Orthodox        Christian Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, Newman       Center, Dec.2
2000 Faculty Roundtable Discussion, History of the Penn             Anthropology Dept. September 6, University Museum. Univ.       of Pennsylvania.
---- World Slavery, U.of Penn Museum, Research Talk, April 24
2001 How to Become an African Ethnic Group in the Twentieth         Century: A Case Study. Asch Center for the Study of Ethnic      Conflict, Univ.of Pennsylvania, March 27
2002 Conflict Resolution among the Suku of the Congo. Asch          Center for the Study of Ethnic Conflict, Univ.of               Pennsylvania.

(Last Updated 11/17/2006)