Background
Levy, Robert Isaac was born on June 1, 1924 in New York, United States. Son of Nathan and Miriam (Israelson) Levy.
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Robert Isaac Levy
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Robert Isaac Levy, American anthropologist, educator. Diplomate American Board Psychiatry and Neurology. Recipient fellowship East West Center, Honolulu, 1964-1965, John S. Guggenheim Foundation, 1978-1979, Center Advanced Studies in Behavorial Sciences, Palo Alto, California, 1985-1986, National Humanities Center, North Carolina, 1990-1991. Fellow American Anthropol. Association, American Psychiatric Association.
Education
Doctor of Medicine, New York University, 1947.
Career
Though he did not receive a formal degree in anthropology, he spent most of his adult life conducting anthropological fieldwork or teaching in departments of anthropology. Robert Levy initially trained as a psychoanalytic psychiatrist and had a private practice in psychiatry for several years before he became involved in an ethnographic research project in the Society Islands (Tahiti), organized by anthropologist Douglas Oliver. He did field work in the Society Islands for twenty-six months, first during a pilot study in July and August 1961, then for two years between July 1962 and June 1964.
In this seminal work both in the ethnography of Polynesian societies and in psychological anthropology, he first demonstrated what he called person-centered ethnography, an approach to fieldwork that drew on his training as a clinical psychiatrist to understand individual feelings, experience, and motivation within a given cultural setting.
From 1964 to 1966 he was a Senior Scholar in the Institute of Advanced Projects at the East-West Center and Research Associate in Anthropology at Bishop Museum, Honolulu. In 1969 he took a faculty position as professor in the newly established anthropology department at the University of California, San Diego, where he taught for many years.
His other major fieldwork site was the Newar city of Bhaktapur in Nepal. After retiring from University of California, San Diego in 1991, he was appointed Research Professor of Anthropology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Research Professor of Anthropology at Duke University.
He died while on holiday in the Italian town of Asolo, from complications of Parkinsons disease.
His students included the anthropologists Douglas Hollan, Paula Levin, Steven Parish. Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, and Douglas Hollan.
Achievements
Membership
Fellow American Anthropol. Association, American Psychiatric Association.
Connections
Married Nerys Wendon, December 1, 1979.
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Born
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Died
August 29, 2003 (aged 79) -
Nationality
American
Awards
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Recipient fellowship East West Center, Honolulu, 1964-1965, John S. Guggenheim Foundation, 1978-1979, Center Advanced Studies in Behavorial Sciences, Palo Alto, California, 1985-1986, National Humanities Center, North Carolina, 1990-1991.Recipient fellowship East West Center, Honolulu, 1964-1965, John S. Guggenheim Foundation, 1978-1979, Center Advanced Studies in Behavorial Sciences, Palo Alto, California, 1985-1986, National Humanities Center, North Carolina, 1990-1991.