Donald Tuzin
Encyclopedia
Donald F. Tuzin was a social anthropologist
best known for his ethnographic work on the Ilahita Arapesh, a horticultural people living in northeast lowland New Guinea
, and for comparative studies of gender and sexuality within Melanesia
. Tuzin was born in Chicago
, Illinois
, grew up in Winona, Minnesota
, and spent his teen years again in Chicago. He received his B.A. from Western Reserve University in Ohio
(shortly before its merger with Case Institute of Technology), where he became interested in anthropology and participated in the excavation of Native American
archaeological sites left by the Mound Builders. He also received his master’s degree from Case Western Reserve
.
While studying at the University of London
, Tuzin became interested in Sepik
cultures and decided to go to the Australian National University
's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
(RSPAS), where he worked with the famous and controversial social anthropologist Derek Freeman
. Tuzin conducted fieldwork among the Ilahita Arapesh in New Guinea's East Sepik Province. He completed his Ph.D. in anthropology at ANU in 1973 and joined the anthropology department at University of California, San Diego
that same year.
Tuzin's most significant book was probably The Cassowary's Revenge (1997), a study of culture change and the construction and enactment of masculinity. The following summary is taken from the book jacket:
In addition to teaching and mentoring students in anthropology, he co-founded (with Fitz Poole) and directed UCSD’s Melanesian Archive, the world’s largest depository of unpublished materials on the societies and cultures of Melanesia. In part because of Tuzin's work, UCSD was known during the 1970s and 1980s as one of the top institutions in the world for the anthropological study of Melanesia.
Professor Tuzin was also a professor for Eleanor Roosevelt College
's, Making of the Modern World sequence. To augment his lectures, he wrote the book, Social Complexity in the Making: A Case Study Among the Arapesh of New Guinea.
Don Tuzin was twice chair of UCSD's department of anthropology, and in 2004-2005 was chair of UCSD's Academic Senate. In his later years, Tuzin was working on a biography of Derek Freeman in collaboration with Peter Hempenstall, a professor of history at the University of Canterbury, in New Zealand.
At the age of 61, he died of complications of pulmonary hypertension
after a brief hospitalization.
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,...
best known for his ethnographic work on the Ilahita Arapesh, a horticultural people living in northeast lowland New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, and for comparative studies of gender and sexuality within Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
. Tuzin was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, grew up in Winona, Minnesota
Winona, Minnesota
Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the U.S. State of Minnesota. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf....
, and spent his teen years again in Chicago. He received his B.A. from Western Reserve University in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
(shortly before its merger with Case Institute of Technology), where he became interested in anthropology and participated in the excavation of Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
archaeological sites left by the Mound Builders. He also received his master’s degree from Case Western Reserve
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
.
While studying 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...
, Tuzin became interested in Sepik
Sepik
Sepik may refer to places in Papua New Guinea:*Sepik River*East Sepik - a province*Sandaun - a province formerly known as West Sepik*Sepik region - consisting of East Sepik and Sandaun provincesIn languages it may refer to:...
cultures and decided to go to the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies was founded in 1946 as an institute of advanced study at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.-History:...
(RSPAS), where he worked with the famous and controversial social anthropologist Derek Freeman
Derek Freeman
John Derek Freeman was a New Zealand anthropologist best known for his criticism of Margaret Mead's work in Samoan society, as described in her 1928 ethnography Coming of Age in Samoa...
. Tuzin conducted fieldwork among the Ilahita Arapesh in New Guinea's East Sepik Province. He completed his Ph.D. in anthropology at ANU in 1973 and joined the anthropology department at 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...
that same year.
Tuzin's most significant book was probably The Cassowary's Revenge (1997), a study of culture change and the construction and enactment of masculinity. The following summary is taken from the book jacket:
- "Donald Tuzin first studied the New Guinea village of Ilahita in 1972. When he returned many years later, he arrived in the aftermath of a startling event: the village's men voluntarily destroyed their secret cult that had allowed them to dominate women for generations. The cult's collapse indicated nothing less than the death of masculinity, and Tuzin examines the labyrinth of motives behind this improbable, self-devastating act. The villagers' mythic tradition provided a basis for this revenge of Woman upon the dominion of Man, and, remarkably, Tuzin himself became a principal figure in its narratives. The return of the magic-bearing 'youngest brother' from America had been prophesied, and the villagers believed that Tuzin's return 'from the dead' signified a further need to destroy masculine traditions. The Cassowary's Revenge is an intimate account of how Ilahita's men and women think, emote, dream, and explain themselves. Tuzin also explores how the death of masculinity in a remote society raises disturbing implications for gender relations in our own society. In this light Tuzin's book is about men and women in search of how to value one another, and in today's world there is no theme more universal or timely."
In addition to teaching and mentoring students in anthropology, he co-founded (with Fitz Poole) and directed UCSD’s Melanesian Archive, the world’s largest depository of unpublished materials on the societies and cultures of Melanesia. In part because of Tuzin's work, UCSD was known during the 1970s and 1980s as one of the top institutions in the world for the anthropological study of Melanesia.
Professor Tuzin was also a professor for Eleanor Roosevelt College
Eleanor Roosevelt College
Eleanor Roosevelt College is one of the six colleges located on the campus at the University of California, San Diego...
's, Making of the Modern World sequence. To augment his lectures, he wrote the book, Social Complexity in the Making: A Case Study Among the Arapesh of New Guinea.
Don Tuzin was twice chair of UCSD's department of anthropology, and in 2004-2005 was chair of UCSD's Academic Senate. In his later years, Tuzin was working on a biography of Derek Freeman in collaboration with Peter Hempenstall, a professor of history at the University of Canterbury, in New Zealand.
At the age of 61, he died of complications of pulmonary hypertension
Pulmonary hypertension
In medicine, pulmonary hypertension is an increase in blood pressure in the pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein, or pulmonary capillaries, together known as the lung vasculature, leading to shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting, and other symptoms, all of which are exacerbated by exertion...
after a brief hospitalization.
Authored books
- Tuzin, Donald F. (1976) The Ilahita Arapesh: dimensions of unity, with a foreword by Margaret Mead. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- —— (1980) The Voice of the Tambaran: Truth and Illusion in Ilahita Arapesh Religion. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- —— (1997) The Cassowary's Revenge: The life and death of masculinity in a New Guinea society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- —— (2001) Social Complexity in the Making: A case study among the Arapesh of New Guinea. London: Routledge.
Edited books
- Brown, Paula, and Donald F. Tuzin, eds. (1983) The Ethnography of Cannibalism. Society for Psychological Anthropology, Special Publication. Washington, D.C.: Society for Psychological Anthropology.
- Tuzin, Donald F., and Thomas Gregor, eds. (2001) Gender in Amazonia and Melanesia: An exploration of the comparative method. Berkeley: University of California Press. With.
Articles
- Tuzin, Donald F. (1984) "Miraculous Voices: The Auditory Experience of Numinous Objects." Current Anthropology 25(5):579-589, 593-596.
- —— (1991) "Sex, Culture, and the Anthropologist." Social Science and Medicine, 33(8):867-874.
- —— (1994) "The Forgotten Passion: Sexuality and Anthropology in the Ages of Victoria and Bronislaw." Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 30(2):114-137.
- —— (1995) "Discourse, Intercourse, and the Excluded Middle: Anthropology and the Problem of Sexual Experience." In Paul R. Abramson and S.D. Pinkerton, eds., Sexual Nature/Sexual Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 257–275.
- —— (2002) ”Derek Freeman (1916–2001)”. American Anthropologist 104, 1013-1015.
Interlocutors
- Thomas Gregor
- Gilbert HerdtGilbert HerdtGilbert H. Herdt is Professor of Human Sexuality Studies and Anthropology and a Founder of the Department of Sexuality Studies and National Sexuality Resource Center at San Francisco State University.-Biography:...
- Fitz John Porter Poole
- Joel Robbins