Bruce Kapferer
Encyclopedia
Bruce Kapferer is a prominent Australia
n social anthropologist. He was raised in Sydney
, and studied anthropology
at the University of Sydney
. Having done field research among the Bisa of Lake Bangweulu
followed by research in Kabwe
(Zambia
), he went on to the University of Manchester
to study with Max Gluckman
and Clyde Mitchell, and received his Ph.D in 1969.
After years of teaching at Manchester, he founded the anthropology department at the University of Adelaide
being joined two years later by Kingsley Garbett, a colleague from Manchester, who came as Reader. Kapferer founded the journal Social Analysis with support of Michael Roberts who was succeeded as the main editor by Kingsley Garbett. He is currently professor
of social anthropology
at the University of Bergen
, Norway
and is once again the editor of Social Analysis. He is also one of the main editors of the journal Anthropological Theory
, currently published by SAGE Publications
.
Kapferer's research interests span from Africa
to Asia
, and include ritual
, thematically healing systems and folk drama, Buddhist cosmology
, ethnic identity, nationalism
and violence
,Globalisation and State Sovereignty, Urban Politics and ecological systems.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n social anthropologist. He was raised in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, and studied anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
. Having done field research among the Bisa of Lake Bangweulu
Lake Bangweulu
Bangweulu — 'where the water sky meets the sky' — is one of the world's great wetland systems, comprising Lake Bangweulu, the Bangweulu Swamps and the Bangweulu Flats or floodplain...
followed by research in Kabwe
Kabwe
Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province with a population estimated at 210,000. Formerly named Broken Hill, it was founded when the Broken Hill lead and zinc deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also has a claim to being the birthplace of Zambian politics...
(Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
), he went on to the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
to study with Max Gluckman
Max Gluckman
Max Gluckman was a South African and British social anthropologist.He grew up in South Africa, working later under the British Administration in Northern Rhodesia...
and Clyde Mitchell, and received his Ph.D in 1969.
After years of teaching at Manchester, he founded the anthropology department at the University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
being joined two years later by Kingsley Garbett, a colleague from Manchester, who came as Reader. Kapferer founded the journal Social Analysis with support of Michael Roberts who was succeeded as the main editor by Kingsley Garbett. He is currently professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of social anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
at the University of Bergen
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and is once again the editor of Social Analysis. He is also one of the main editors of the journal Anthropological Theory
Anthropological Theory
Anthropological Theory is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of Anthropology. The journal's editors are Jonathan Friedman , Bruce Kapferer and Joel Robbins...
, currently published by SAGE Publications
SAGE Publications
SAGE is an independent academic publisher of books, journals, and electronic products in the humanities and social sciences and the scientific, technical, and medical fields. SAGE was founded in 1965 by George McCune and Sara Miller McCune. The company is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California,...
.
Kapferer's research interests span from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
to Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and include ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
, thematically healing systems and folk drama, Buddhist cosmology
Buddhist cosmology
Buddhist cosmology is the description of the shape and evolution of the Universe according to the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries.-Introduction:...
, ethnic identity, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
,Globalisation and State Sovereignty, Urban Politics and ecological systems.
Academic positions
- Commonwealth ScholarCommonwealth ScholarshipThe Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan is an international programme under which Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries.-History:...
& Research Affiliate, Rhodes-Livingstone InstituteRhodes-Livingstone InstituteFounded in 1938 under the initial directorship of Godfrey Wilson, the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute was the first local anthropological research facility in Africa...
(later the Institute For African Studies), ZambiaZambiaZambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
1963-1966; - Lecturer, Senior Lecturer , University of Manchester 1966-1973;
- Foundation Professor, University of Adelaide 1973-1985;
- Professor, University College LondonUniversity College LondonUniversity College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
1985 -1996; - Foundation Professor, James Cook UniversityJames Cook UniversityJames Cook University is a public university based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The university has two Australian campuses, located in Townsville and Cairns respectively, and an international campus in Singapore. JCU is the second oldest university in Queensland—proclaimed in 1970—and the...
1996 - 1999; - Professor, University of Bergen 1999 to date.
- Visiting Professor, University of California, Los AngelesUniversity of California, Los AngelesThe University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
- Visiting Professor, University of Stockholm
- Visiting Professor, University of CopenhagenUniversity of CopenhagenThe University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
- Visiting Professor, Göteborg University
Fellowships
- Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral SciencesCenter for Advanced Study in the Behavioral SciencesThe Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences is an American interdisciplinary research body in Stanford, California focusing on the social sciences and humanities . Fellows are elected in a closed process, to spend a period of residence at the Center, released from other duties...
, Stanford, CaliforniaStanford, CaliforniaStanford is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and is the home of Stanford University. The population was 13,809 at the 2010 census.... - Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesThe Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organisation dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands...
- Institute For Advanced Studies, Hebrew University
- Centre for Cultural Research, University of AarhusUniversity of AarhusAarhus University , located in the city of Aarhus, Denmark, is Denmark's second oldest and second largest university...
Selected publications
- 2005. (ed). "Oligarchs and Oligopolies: New Formations of Global Power". Berghahn Books: New York and Oxford.
- 2005. (ed). "The Retreat of the Social: The Rise and RISE of Reductionism". Berghahn Books: New York and Oxford.
- 2004. (ed). "State, sovereignty, war: civil violence in emerging global realities". Berghahn Books: New York and Oxford.
- 2003. (ed). "Beyond Rationalism: Rethinking Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery". Berghahn Books: New York & Oxford.
- 2003. "Introduction: Outside All Reason - Magic, Sorcery and Epistemology in Anthropology". In "Beyond Rationalism"
- 2003. "Sorcery, Modernity and the Constitutive Imaginary: Hybridising Continuities". In "Beyond Rationalism"
- 2002. (Editor) "The World Trade Center and Global Crisis". Social Analysis, Forum 46(1):92-152.
- 2002. "Foundation and Empire (with apologies to Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
): A Consideration of Hardt and Negri's Empire". Review Article. Social Analysis 46(1):167-79. - 2002. "Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Culture of the State. The 17th Edvard Westermarck Memorial Lecture". Suomen Anthropologi 27(2):4-23.
- 2001. "Sorcery and the Shape of Globalization". Suomen Anthropologi 26(1):4-28.
- 1998. "Legends of People, Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance and Political Culture in Sri Lanka and Australia". Second edition. Crawford Press. First published 1988 by the Smithsonian Institution Press.
- 1997. "The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness and Power". Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
- 1983. "A Celebration of Demons: Exorcism and the Aesthetics of Healing in Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
". Bloomington: Indiana University press. - 1972. "Strategy and Transaction in an African Factory", Manchester: Manchester University Press.
- 1969. "Norms and the Manipulation of Relationships in a Work Context", in Social Networks in Urban Situations, edited by J. C. MitchellJ. Clyde MitchellJames Clyde Mitchell was a British sociologist and anthropologist....
. Manchester: Manchester University Press.