E.E. Evans-Pritchard

1902 - 1973

sculpted by Ian Scott, Sir Edward E.Evans-Pritchard,
Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Oxford 1946 - 70 Copyright Marcus Banks
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/isca/history.html ISCA 1997

E.E. Evans-Pritchard was born in Sussex, England, in 1902. He studied Modern History at the University of Oxford. Evans-Pritchard did his post-graduate work in Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

He did fieldwork among the Azande and Nuer tribes of southern Sudan. The books he wrote about his work, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande and The Nuer gave him a good reputation. Although he wrote extensively, his later work was not as renowned as his earlier writings. His later works were often theoretical writings and lectures about the relationships between anthropology and other social sciences.

An example of this is his book entitledInstitutions of Primitive Society. This book was actually a transcription of a series of talks he gave on BBC radio. The purpose of these talks was to show "laymen" what the science of anthropology really is. In these talks he covered religion, economics, aesthetics, laws, kinship, politics and modes of thought.

His influence as a teacher was considerable. Under Evans-Pritchard's guidance, The Oxford School of Social Anthropology drew students from around the world. He also sponsored fieldwork in Africa and elsewhere as a member of the Colonial Social Science Research Council. He was a professor at Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College from 1946 to 1970, and was Sub-warden from 1963 to 1965.

Evans-Pritchard was knighted in 1971 and died in Oxford on September 11, 1973.

References:

Written by: Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota