Rhodes-Livingstone Institute
Encyclopedia
Founded in 1938 under the initial directorship of Godfrey Wilson
, the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute (RLI) was the first local anthropological research facility in Africa. Designed to allow for easier study of the local cultures of Northern Rhodesia
, now Zambia
, it became the base of operations for a number of leading anthropologists of the time.
The RLI anthropologists have been lauded by some as liberal, anti-racists, furthering the cause of African independence.
Others have called attention to their misguidedness stemming from the fact that they were embedded in the colonial system and blind to its reality as a component in dialectic study.
Godfrey Wilson
Godfrey Wilson was a British anthropologist who studied social change in Africa.Wilson first joined Hertford College with an open scholarship in 1927, and received a Lit. Hum. degree in 1931. In 1932, he entered the London School of Economics and Political Science...
, the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute (RLI) was the first local anthropological research facility in Africa. Designed to allow for easier study of the local cultures of Northern Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, now 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....
, it became the base of operations for a number of leading anthropologists of the time.
The RLI anthropologists have been lauded by some as liberal, anti-racists, furthering the cause of African independence.
Others have called attention to their misguidedness stemming from the fact that they were embedded in the colonial system and blind to its reality as a component in dialectic study.