Background
Spencer was born on 23 December 1954 in Dorking, Surrey, England.
Spencer was born on 23 December 1954 in Dorking, Surrey, England.
He studied social anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, and graduated with an undergraduate Master of Arts (Master of Arts Honours) degree in 1977. He was then a postgraduate student at the University of Chicago, and graduated with a postgraduate Master of Arts (Department of Administration and Management) degree in 1981. He undertook postgraduate research at the University of Oxford, and graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (Doctor of Philosophy) degree in 1986.
Since 2014, he has been the Regius Professor of South Asian Language, Culture and Society at the University of Edinburgh. Spencer was a lecturer at the University of Sussex in 1987, a lecturer at the London School of Economics from 1989 to 1990. In 1990, he joined the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.
From 1999 to 2014, he was Professor of Anthropology of South Asia.
On 15 March 2014, he was appointed Regius Professor of South Asian Language, Culture and Society. He has published many works on politics of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan civil war.
He has also made significant contributions to the history and theory of anthropology.