Chris Knight is a British anthropologist

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...

 and political activist.

Following an MPhil in Russian Literature from the University of Sussex

University of Sussex

The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....

 in 1977, he gained his PhD in 1987 at the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

 for a thesis on Claude Lévi-Strauss

Claude Lévi-Strauss

Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....

's four-volume Mythologiques

Mythologiques

Mythologiques is a four-volume work of cultural anthropology by Claude Lévi-Strauss. Originally written in French, the works were translated into English by John Weightman and Doreen Weightman.The four volumes of Mythologiques are:...

. He became a lecturer in anthropology at the University of East London

University of East London

The University of East London is a university located in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, based at two campuses in Stratford and Docklands areas...

 in 1989 and a professor at the same institution in 2000. Knight is a founding member of the Radical Anthropology Group (RAG).

Knight is best known for his theory that human language, religion and culture emerged in the human species not simply by gradual Darwinian evolution but in a process culminating in revolutionary social change. In this, he claims to be following in the footsteps of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, who in their later years were fascinated by what was then the new science of anthropology. Knight published his first book, Blood Relations: Menstruation and the origins of culture in 1991. Since then, he has been a major figure in debates on the origins of human symbolic culture and especially the origin of language

Origin of language

The origin of language is the emergence of language in the human species. This is a highly controversial topic. Empirical evidence is so limited that many regard it as unsuitable for serious scholars. In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris went so far as to ban debates on the subject...

.

Initially a supporter of the Militant tendency

Militant Tendency

The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...

, Chris Knight was later a founder editor of the journal Labour Left Briefing (he remains on the board) and has a long record of political activism. Although a Marxist

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

, he is often mistakenly described by the press as an anarchist

Anarchism

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...

. During the build-up to the 2009 G-20 Summit

2009 G-20 London summit protests

The 2009 G-20 London summit protests occurred in the days around the G-20 summit on 2 April 2009, which was the focus of protests from a number of groups over various long-standing and topical issues...

 in London, he was involved in a street theatre group known as The Government of the Dead. Statements he made at this time in an interview for the London Evening Standard

Evening Standard

The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...

(and the PM

PM (Radio 4)

PM, sometimes referred to as the PM programme to avoid ambiguity, is BBC Radio 4's long-running early evening news and current affairs programme.-Broadcast times:...

programme) led the Corporate Management Team at the University of East London to charge him with 'gross professional misconduct', 'insubordination' and 'bringing the university into disrepute'. He was suspended on 26 March 2009 and, despite a petition signed by 600 academics and others, was 'summarily dismissed' on 22 July 2009. He is now a visiting lecturer and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Comenius, Bratislava, Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

.

On 28 April 2011, he was one of three people arrested "on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance and breach of the peace". The three were planning a mock execution of The Duke of York

Prince Andrew, Duke of York

Prince Andrew, Duke of York KG GCVO , is the second son, and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

 in central London on the following day, to coincide with the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

The wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton took place on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London. Prince William, the eldest son of Charles, Prince of Wales, first met Catherine Middleton in 2001, when both were studying at the University of St Andrews. Their...

.

Selected writings

• In Defence of Activism
• Decoding Chomsky
• Marxism and Science
• Solidarity and Sex
• Sex and the human revolution
• Knight, C., C. Power and I. Watts, 1995. The human symbolic revolution: A Darwinian account. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 5 (1): 75-114.
• Knight, C. 2008. Early Human Kinship was Matrilineal. In N. J. Allen, H. Callan, R. Dunbar and W. James (eds), Early Human Kinship. London: Royal Anthropological Institute, pp. 61–82.
• Knight, C. 2010. The origins of symbolic culture. In Ulrich J. Frey, Charlotte Störmer and Kai P. Willführ (eds) 2010. Homo Novus – A Human Without Illusions. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 193–211.

Books

• Botha, R. and C. Knight (eds), 2009. The Prehistory of Language. (Oxford: Oxford University Press.) ISBN 9780199545872.
• Botha, R. and C. Knight (eds), 2009. The Cradle of Language. (Oxford: Oxford University Press.) ISBN 9780199545858
• Knight, C., 1991. Blood Relations: Menstruation and the origins of culture. (London & New Haven: Yale University Press
  Yale University Press
  Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
  
  ), ISBN 0300049110.
• Knight, C., R. Dunbar and C. Power (eds), 1999. The Evolution of Culture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
  Edinburgh University Press
  Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.-History:Edinburgh University Press was founded over 50 years ago and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh in 1992...
  
  ), ISBN 0748610766.
• Knight, C., M. Studdert-Kennedy and J. R. Hurford (eds), 2000. The Evolutionary Emergence of Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  Cambridge University Press
  Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
  
  ), ISBN 0521781574.

See also

• 2009 G-20 London summit protests: Alternative London Summit

External links

• Chris Knight - Professor of Anthropology Personal Web Site
• G-20 Meltdown website
• Alternative London Summit
• Responses to 'Blood Relations: Menstruation and the origins of culture'
• Radical Anthropology Group
• The Government of the Dead web page.
• Government of the Dead video
• UEL Rising East academic essay exploring ideas behind Chris Knight's carnivalesque organisation of G20 protest.
• Ian Tomlinson Memorial March
• G20 protests: The Laughing Professor
• Government of the Dead - Mardi Gras