David M. Schneider was born in New York in 1918. He graduated from Cornell University in 1940 and continued on to get his Ph. D. from Harvard University. Schneider taught at Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley before becoming Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 1960.
Schneider did his case study on the pacific island of Yap. He stirred up some trouble when he challenged the anthropological theory with his book American Kinship: a Cultural Account. He believed that Kinship was an entire culture of powerful symbols and meanings. His work led others to question the “old” perceived sex roles. He also served as a godfather of sorts for feminists’ scholars at Stanford University, the University of New York at Purchase and at the University of Virginia. David Schneider spent his life pursuing ties in American kinship and studying the American southwest. He had been a revolutionary affect on his students who took his theories on kinship and applied them to perceived sex roles in various cultures. Schneider passed away on October 30 1995. His lost was felt throughout the anthropological community.
Biography.com http://www.biography.com/ (20 March 2000)
biography obituaries http://members.aol.com/rhrongstad/bio-obit.htm (20 March 2000)
Written by Katy Fisher