Adam Kuper

1941

He took his first degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. His doctorate, from the University of Cambridge, was based on field research in the Kalahari desert in what is now Botswana. After graduation he returned to Africa, doing further fieldwork in Botswana and Uganda and teaching for three years at Makerere University in Kampala. From 1970 to 1976 he taught at University College London. From 1976 to 1985 he was professor of African anthropology at Leiden University in the Netherlands. From 1985 to 2008 he was a professor at Brunel University, where he was the first head of the Department of Human Sciences, and latterly head of the Anthropology Department. In 2000 and in 2007 he was, respectively, awarded the Rivers medal and the Huxley medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Kuper is a Visiting Professor at Boston University, 2011-2014, and Centennial Professor, London School of Economics, from September, 2013. He has lived in Muswell Hill for 25 years. In the early 1970s Kuper did fieldwork in Jamaica, on attachment to the National Planning Agency in the Office of the Prime Minister. In 1973 he published a history of British social anthropology, and since then he has continued to study and publish on the intellectual history of anthropology, most recently a book on the idea of culture in the anthropological tradition. He was awarded a Leverhulme Major Grant for two years (2003-2005) which allowed him to spend more time on research. The topic was cousin marriage and incest in nineteenth century England. He has supervised many Doctor of Philosophy students on Southern African ethnography, history of anthropology, family business, and kinship. In January 2009 it was revealed that Brunel had reneged on an agreement to let him stay until 2010. Instead, he was forcibly retired in late 2008, just after the census date for publications submitted to the Assessment Exercise had passed. Kuper responded by suing the university for breach of contract.

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Works

book

The Chosen Primate: Human Nature and Cultural Diversity by Adam Kuper (1994-04-30)

Anthropology and Anthropologists: The Modern British School

(On its first publication in 1973 Adam Kuper's entertainin...)

The Chosen Primate: Human Nature and Cultural Diversity by Adam Kuper (1996-10-01)

The Chosen Primate: Human Nature and Cultural Diversity Hardcover - April, 1994

The Chosen Primate: Human Nature and Cultural Diversity

(The great debates about human origins, cultural history, ...)

Anthropology and Anthropologists: The Modern British School by Kuper, Adam(May 12, 1996) Paperback

(Will be shipped from US. Brand new copy.)

Incest and Influence: The Private Life of Bourgeois England by Adam Kuper (2009-10-30)

(New copy. Fast shipping. Will be shipped from US.)

Anthropology and Anthropologists: The Modern British School by Adam Kuper (1996-05-12)

Incest and Influence: The Private Life of Bourgeois England

( Like many gentlemen of his time, Charles Darwin married...)

The Invention of Primitive Society: Transformations of an Illusion

(Both a critical history of anthropological theory and met...)

The Chosen Primate, Human Nature and Cultural Diversity

Adam Kuper

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anthropologist

Education

Born and raised in South Africa, he attended Parktown Boys" High School.

Career

He took his first degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. His doctorate, from the University of Cambridge, was based on field research in the Kalahari desert in what is now Botswana. After graduation he returned to Africa, doing further fieldwork in Botswana and Uganda and teaching for three years at Makerere University in Kampala.

From 1970 to 1976 he taught at University College London.

From 1976 to 1985 he was professor of African anthropology at Leiden University in the Netherlands. From 1985 to 2008 he was a professor at Brunel University, where he was the first head of the Department of Human Sciences, and latterly head of the Anthropology Department.

In 2000 and in 2007 he was, respectively, awarded the Rivers medal and the Huxley medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Kuper is a Visiting Professor at Boston University, 2011-2014, and Centennial Professor, London School of Economics, from September, 2013.

He has lived in Muswell Hill for 25 years.

In the early 1970s Kuper did fieldwork in Jamaica, on attachment to the National Planning Agency in the Office of the Prime Minister. In 1973 he published a history of British social anthropology, and since then he has continued to study and publish on the intellectual history of anthropology, most recently a book on the idea of culture in the anthropological tradition. He was awarded a Leverhulme Major Grant for two years (2003-2005) which allowed him to spend more time on research.

The topic was cousin marriage and incest in nineteenth century England.

He has supervised many Doctor of Philosophy students on Southern African ethnography, history of anthropology, family business, and kinship. In January 2009 it was revealed that Brunel had reneged on an agreement to let him stay until 2010.

Instead, he was forcibly retired in late 2008, just after the census date for publications submitted to the Assessment Exercise had passed. Kuper responded by suing the university for breach of contract.