Cora DuBois
Encyclopedia
Cora Alice Du Bois, was an American cultural anthropologist and a key figure in culture and personality studies and in psychological anthropology more generally.
. She spent most of her childhood in New Jersey
, where she graduated from high school in Perth Amboy. She spent a year studying library science at the New York Public Library and then attendet Barnard College
, graduating with a B.A. in history in 1927. She earned an M.A. in history from Columbia University
in 1928.
Encouraged by an anthropology course taught by Ruth Benedict
and Franz Boas
at Columbia , DuBois moved to California to study anthropology with Native American specialists Alfred L. Kroeber
and Robert Lowie
. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley
in 1932. In part due to prejudices against women academics, she was initially unable to find a university position. She remained at Berkeley as a teaching fellow and research assistant from 1932 to 1935. She conducted salvage ethnography on several Native American groups of northern California and the Pacific Northwest, including the Wintu
Indians of northern California. She published The 1870 Ghost Dance in 1939, a study of a religious movement among Native Americans in the Western U.S.
In 1935, Du Bois received a National Research Council
Fellowship to undertake clinical training and explore possible collaborations between anthropology and psychiatry. She spent six months the Boston Psychopathic Hospital
, now the Massachusetts Mental Health Center
, and six months at the New York Psychoanalytic Society
. In New York she worked with psychiatrist Abram Kardiner, who became her mentor and collaborator for several projects in cross-cultural diagnosis and the psychoanalytic study of culture. Du Bois also taught at Hunter College
in 1936-1937 while developing a fieldwork project to test their new ideas.
From 1937 to 1939, DuBois lived and conducted research on the island of Alor
, part of the Netherlands East Indies, now Indonesia
. She collected detailed case studies, life-history interviews, and administered various personality tests (including Rorschach test
s), which she interpreted in collaboration with Kardiner and published as The People of Alor: A Social-Psychological Study of an East Indian Island in 1944. One of her major theoretical advances in this work was the concept of "modal personality structure". With this notion she modified earlier ideas in the Culture and Personality school of anthropology on "basic personality structure" by demonstrating that, while there is always individual variation within a culture, each culture favors the development of a particular type or types, which will be the most common within that culture. Her work strongly influenced other psychiatric anthropologists, including Robert I. Levy
, with his person-centered ethnography
, and Melford Spiro
.
Like many other American social scientists during World War II, DuBois served as a member of the Office of Strategic Services
working in the Research and Analysis Branch as Chief of the Indonesia section. In 1944 she moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
) to serve as chief of research and analysis for the Army's Southeast Asia Command. There she began a lesbian relationship with Jeanne Taylor, another OSS employee. They lived together as a couple and in the mid-1950s they visited Paul
and Julia Child
in Paris. DuBois and Taylor, "her companion," according to her Harvard Library biographer, "enjoyed an active social life" in the 1970s.
She left the OSS after World War II and from 1945 to 1949 was Southeast Asia Branch Chief in the State Department's Office of Intelligence Research. In 1950, she declined an appointment to succeed Kroeber as head of the anthropology department at Berkeley rather than sign the California Loyalty Oath required of all faculty members. DuBois worked for the World Health Organization
in 1950-51. In 1954, she accepted an appointment at Harvard University
as the second person to hold of the Zimurray Chair at Radcliffe College
. She was the first woman tenured in Harvard's Anthropology Department and the second woman tenured in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. She conducted research between 1961 and 1967 on the temple city of Bhubaneswar
in the Indian state of Orissa
, where a number of graduate students in Anthropology and Social Relations
conducted fieldwork.
DuBois was president of the American Anthropological Association in 1968-69 and of the Association for Asian Studies in 1969-70.
In 1970 she retired from Harvard but continued teaching as Professor-at-large at Cornell University
(1971–1976) and for one term at the University of California, San Diego
(1976). She died in Brookline, Massachusetts
, on April 7, 1991. Most of her research materials and personal papers are held in Tozzer Library at Harvard University. Some are in the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago
.
Biography
DuBois was born in New York City on October 26, 1903 to Mattie Schreiber Du Bois and Jean Du Bois, immigrants to the U.S. from SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. She spent most of her childhood in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, where she graduated from high school in Perth Amboy. She spent a year studying library science at the New York Public Library and then attendet Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
, graduating with a B.A. in history in 1927. She earned an M.A. in history from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1928.
Encouraged by an anthropology course taught by Ruth Benedict
Ruth Benedict
Ruth Benedict was an American anthropologist, cultural relativist, and folklorist....
and Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
at Columbia , DuBois moved to California to study anthropology with Native American specialists Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred Louis Kroeber was an American anthropologist. He was the first professor appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and played an integral role in the early days of its Museum of Anthropology, where he served as director from 1909 through...
and Robert Lowie
Robert Lowie
Robert Harry Lowie was an Austrian-born American anthropologist. An expert on North American Indians, he was instrumental in the development of modern anthropology.-Biography:...
. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1932. In part due to prejudices against women academics, she was initially unable to find a university position. She remained at Berkeley as a teaching fellow and research assistant from 1932 to 1935. She conducted salvage ethnography on several Native American groups of northern California and the Pacific Northwest, including the Wintu
Wintu
The Wintu are Native Americans who live in what is now Northern California. They are part of a loose association of peoples known collectively as the Wintun . Others are the Nomlaki and the Patwin...
Indians of northern California. She published The 1870 Ghost Dance in 1939, a study of a religious movement among Native Americans in the Western U.S.
Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times...
In 1935, Du Bois received a National Research Council
United States National Research Council
The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...
Fellowship to undertake clinical training and explore possible collaborations between anthropology and psychiatry. She spent six months the Boston Psychopathic Hospital
Boston Psychopathic Hospital
The Boston Psychopathic Hospital was the first mental health hospital in Massachusetts, USA.-History of the establishment:In November 1909 the site for the hospital was purchased on Fenwood Road, 5 minutes' walk from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Elmer E. Southard was appointed director of the...
, now the Massachusetts Mental Health Center
Massachusetts Mental Health Center
Massachusetts Mental Health Center is a historic building at 74 Fenwood Road in Boston, Massachusetts.The center was built in 1912 as Boston Psychopathic Hospital by Taylor Kendall and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994....
, and six months at the New York Psychoanalytic Society
New York Psychoanalytic Society
The New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute — founded in 1911 by Dr. Abraham A. Brill — is the oldest psychoanalytic organization in the United States....
. In New York she worked with psychiatrist Abram Kardiner, who became her mentor and collaborator for several projects in cross-cultural diagnosis and the psychoanalytic study of culture. Du Bois also taught at Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
in 1936-1937 while developing a fieldwork project to test their new ideas.
From 1937 to 1939, DuBois lived and conducted research on the island of Alor
Alor
Alor is the largest island in the Alor Archipelago located at the eastern-most end of the Lesser Sunda Islands that runs through southern Indonesia, which from the west include such islands as Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, and Flores....
, part of the Netherlands East Indies, now Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. She collected detailed case studies, life-history interviews, and administered various personality tests (including Rorschach test
Rorschach test
The Rorschach test is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning...
s), which she interpreted in collaboration with Kardiner and published as The People of Alor: A Social-Psychological Study of an East Indian Island in 1944. One of her major theoretical advances in this work was the concept of "modal personality structure". With this notion she modified earlier ideas in the Culture and Personality school of anthropology on "basic personality structure" by demonstrating that, while there is always individual variation within a culture, each culture favors the development of a particular type or types, which will be the most common within that culture. Her work strongly influenced other psychiatric anthropologists, including Robert I. Levy
Robert I. Levy (anthropologist)
Robert I. Levy was an American psychiatrist and anthropologist known for his fieldwork in Tahiti and Nepal and on the cross-cultural study of emotions. Though he did not receive a formal degree in anthropology, he spent most of his adult life conducting anthropological fieldwork or teaching in...
, with his person-centered ethnography
Person-centered ethnography
Person-centered ethnography is an approach within psychological anthropology that draws on techniques and theories from psychiatry and psychoanalysis to understand how individuals relate to and interact with their sociocultural context. The term was first used by Robert I...
, and Melford Spiro
Melford Spiro
Melford Elliot Spiro is an American cultural anthropologist specializing in psychological anthropology. He is known for his work on the Westermarck effect, and for his studies of the kibbutz. He has conducted fieldwork among the Ojibwa, on Ifaluk atoll in Micronesia, in Israel, and in Burma...
.
Like many other American social scientists during World War II, DuBois served as a member of the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
working in the Research and Analysis Branch as Chief of the Indonesia section. In 1944 she moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri 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...
) to serve as chief of research and analysis for the Army's Southeast Asia Command. There she began a lesbian relationship with Jeanne Taylor, another OSS employee. They lived together as a couple and in the mid-1950s they visited Paul
Paul Cushing Child
Paul Cushing Child is best known as the husband of world-renowned celebrity chef, Julia Child.-Early life:Child was born in Montclair, NJ on January 15, 1902 to Bertha Cushing and Charles Triplet Child. His twin brother was named Charles...
and Julia Child
Julia Child
Julia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...
in Paris. DuBois and Taylor, "her companion," according to her Harvard Library biographer, "enjoyed an active social life" in the 1970s.
She left the OSS after World War II and from 1945 to 1949 was Southeast Asia Branch Chief in the State Department's Office of Intelligence Research. In 1950, she declined an appointment to succeed Kroeber as head of the anthropology department at Berkeley rather than sign the California Loyalty Oath required of all faculty members. DuBois worked for the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
in 1950-51. In 1954, she accepted an appointment at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
as the second person to hold of the Zimurray Chair at Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
. She was the first woman tenured in Harvard's Anthropology Department and the second woman tenured in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. She conducted research between 1961 and 1967 on the temple city of Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar is the capital of the Indian state of Orissa, officially Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chedi dynasty who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital...
in the Indian state of Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, where a number of graduate students in Anthropology and Social Relations
Harvard Department of Social Relations
The Department of Social Relations for Interdisciplinary Social Science Studies, more commonly known as the "Department of Social Relations" was an interdisciplinary collaboration among three of the social science departments at Harvard University beginning in 1946...
conducted fieldwork.
DuBois was president of the American Anthropological Association in 1968-69 and of the Association for Asian Studies in 1969-70.
In 1970 she retired from Harvard but continued teaching as Professor-at-large at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
(1971–1976) and for one term at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
(1976). She died in Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
, on April 7, 1991. Most of her research materials and personal papers are held in Tozzer Library at Harvard University. Some are in the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
.
Notable Students
- Jean Briggs, cultural and psychological anthropologist, Canadian Inuit
- Richard TaubRichard TaubRichard P. Taub is an American sociologist noted for his research on urban, rural, and community economic development. He is a faculty member of the University of Chicago's Department of Sociology and Department of Comparative Human Development and is also the Paul Klapper Professor in the Social...
, sociologist - Richard A. ShwederRichard ShwederRichard A. Shweder, is an American cultural anthropologist and a significant figure in cultural psychology. He received his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966 and his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University's Department of Social Relations in 1972. He taught...
, cultural anthropologist and cultural psychologist, Orissa
Select Publications
- Du Bois, Cora A. (1938) The Feather Cult of the Middle Columbia. Menasha, WI: George Banta Publishing Company.
- Du Bois, Cora A. (1939) The 1870 Ghost Dance. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
- Du Bois, C. A. (1944) The people of Alor; a social-psychological study of an East Indian island. With analyses by Abram Kardiner and Emil Oberholzer. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Du Bois, Cora (1959) Social Forces in Southeast Asia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Du Bois, Cora Alice (1960). The people of Alor; a social-psychological study of an East Indian island. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.