Keith Hart (anthropologist)
Encyclopedia
Keith Hart is a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
at Goldsmith's College, University of London
. He co-directs the Human Economy Group at the University of Pretoria
and is Honorary Professor of Development Studies at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban. His main research has been on Africa
and the African diaspora
. He has taught at numerous universities
, most significantly at Cambridge where he was director of the African Studies Centre. He has contributed to the concept of the informal economy
to development studies
and has published widely on economic anthropology
. He is the author of Money in an Unequal World. One recurrent theme of his work has been the relationship between movement and identity in the transition from national to world society.
as publisher. In 2004, Justin Shaffner scanned the original Prickly Pear pamphlets into a PDF format and made them freely available for distribution on the Internet on Keith Hart's The Memory Bank.
. There are currently over 5,000 members from distinguished members of the discipline to postgraduates, undergraduates and amateur anthropologists.
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 Goldsmith's College, 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...
. He co-directs the Human Economy Group at the University of Pretoria
University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria is a multi campus public research university located in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa...
and is Honorary Professor of Development Studies at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban. His main research has been on 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...
and the African diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
. He has taught at numerous universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, most significantly at Cambridge where he was director of the African Studies Centre. He has contributed to the concept of the informal economy
Informal economy
The informal sector or informal economy as defined by governments, scholars, banks, etc. is the part of an economy that is not taxed, monitored by any form of government, or included in any gross national product , unlike the formal economy....
to development studies
Development studies
Development studies is a multidisciplinary branch of social science which addresses issues of concern to developing countries. It has historically placed a particular focus on issues related to social and economic development, and its relevance may therefore extend to communities and regions...
and has published widely on economic anthropology
Economic anthropology
Economic anthropology is a scholarly field that attempts to explain human economic behavior using the tools of both economics and anthropology. It is practiced by anthropologists and has a complex relationship with economics...
. He is the author of Money in an Unequal World. One recurrent theme of his work has been the relationship between movement and identity in the transition from national to world society.
Prickly Pear Pamphlets
In 1993, Keith Hart and Anna Grimshaw started a small press called Prickly Pear. Inspired by the eighteenth-century figure of the pamphleteer, their goal was nothing less than to revitalize a stagnant academy. Together, they published a series of ten pamphlets by a range of authors — young, old, unknown, and famous — on a range of topics in anthropology, the history of science, and ethnographic film. "We emulate the passionate amateurs of history who circulated new and radical ideas to as wide an audience as possible," they said. "And we hope in the process to reinvent anthropology as a means of engaging with society." In 1998, Matthew Engelke and Mark Harris took over the press, expanding its operations in the world market and adding a few titles to its list. In 2001, Prickly Paradigm established itself as a new incarnation of Prickly Pear, edited by Matthew Engelke, with Marshall SahlinsMarshall Sahlins
Marshall David Sahlins is a prominent American anthropologist. He received both a Bachelors and Masters degree at the University of Michigan where he studied with Leslie White, and earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1954 where his main intellectual influences included Karl Polanyi and...
as publisher. In 2004, Justin Shaffner scanned the original Prickly Pear pamphlets into a PDF format and made them freely available for distribution on the Internet on Keith Hart's The Memory Bank.
The Memory Bank
The Memory Bank is Keith Hart's digital archive and blog, which was created in 2000 to help publicize his book by the same name. The site includes a near final version of the book, short academic articles written and published in the last decade, and forays into journalism, stories, poetry, and film reviews.Open Anthropology Cooperative
Open Anthropology Cooperative is a social networking site for anthropologists founded by Keith Hart in June 2009 on the NingNing
Ning is an online platform for people and organizations to create custom social networks, launched in October 2005. Ning offers customers the ability to create a community website with a customized appearance and feel, feature sets such as photos, videos, forums and blogs, and the service layers in...
. There are currently over 5,000 members from distinguished members of the discipline to postgraduates, undergraduates and amateur anthropologists.
Books include
- The Political Economy of West African Agriculture (1982)
- The Memory Bank: Money in an unequal world (2000)
- The Hit Man’s Dilemma: or business, personal and impersonal (2005)
- Market and Society: The Great Transformation today (edited with Chris Hann) (2009)
- The Human Economy: A citizen's guide (edited with Jean-Louis Laville and Antonio David Cattani) (2010)
- Economic Anthropology: History, ethnography, critique (with Chris Hann) (2011)
Articles include
- Informal income opportunities and urban employment in Ghana (1973)
- On commoditization (1982)
- Heads or tails? Two sides of the coin (1986)
- Kinship, contract and trust: the economic organisation of migrants in an African city slum (1988)
- Notes towards an anthropology of the internet (2004)
- The political economy of food in an unequal world (2004)
- Agrarian civilization and world society (2006)
- Marcel Mauss : in pursuit of the whole (2007)
- Money is always personal and impersonal (2007)
- Interview: Keith Hart answers questions on economic anthropology, European Economic Sociology Newsletter (2007)
- The human economy, ASAonline (2008).
- (With H. Ortiz) Anthropology in the financial crisis, Anthropology Today (2008)
- The persasive power of money in S. Gudeman ed Economic Persuasions (2009)
- Money in the making of world society in C. Hann and K. Hart eds Market and Society (2009)
- An anthropologist in the world revolution, Anthropology Today (2009)
- Mauss et sa vision de l’economie dans les annees 1920-25, Revue du MAUSS No. 36 (2010)
- Kant, ‘anthropology’ and the new human universal, Social Anthropology (2010)
- The financial crisis and the end of all-purpose money, Economic Sociology: the European Electronic Newsletter (2011)