Wendy James (anthropologist)
{{Short description|British social anthropologist and academic (1940–2024)}}
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{{Other people|Wendy James}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Wendy James
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRAI|FBA|size=100%}}
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| birth_name = Wendy Rosalind James
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1940|2|4}}
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| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2024|4|27|1940|2|4}}
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| nationality = British
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| title = Professor of Social Anthropology
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| spouse = {{marriage|Douglas H. Johnson|1977}}
| children = 2
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| education = Kelsick Grammar School
| alma_mater = St Hugh's College, Oxford
| thesis_title = Principles of social organisation among the Uduk speaking people of the southern Fung region, Republic of the Sudan
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| thesis_year = 1970
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| discipline = Anthropology
| sub_discipline = {{hlist|Social Anthropology|Africa|Sudan|Ethiopia|Ethnography|History of anthropology}}
| workplaces = {{plain list|
- University of Khartoum
- St Hugh's College, Oxford
- University of Bergen
- St Cross College, Oxford
- University of Oxford }}
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Wendy Rosalind James, {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRAI|FBA|size=100%|sep=,}} (4 February 1940 – 27 April 2024) was a British social anthropologist and academic. She was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford from 1996 to 2007, and President of the Royal Anthropological Institute from 2001 to 2004.
Early life and education
James was born on 4 February 1940 to William Stanley James and Isabel James (née Lunt). She was educated at Kelsick School, a grammar school in Ambleside, Cumbria.{{cite web|title=JAMES, Prof. Wendy Rosalind, (Mrs D. H. Johnson)|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U21798|website=Who's Who 2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=4 February 2017|date=November 2016}}{{Subscription or libraries}} She studied geography at St Hugh's College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1962.{{cite web|title=Professor Wendy Rosalind James|url=http://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/people/fellow/professor-wendy-rosalind-james|publisher=St Cross College|accessdate=4 February 2017}}
James's interest in Africa was developed through the stories her father told her about his time working in Uganda and her interest in anthropology was sparked during a "'hands-on' introductory course at the Pitt Rivers Museum" in Oxford during her undergraduate degree.{{cite web|title=Wendy James, CBE|url=http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/interviews/wendy-james-cbe|website=Oxford Today|publisher=University of Oxford|accessdate=4 February 2017|date=1 January 2010}} She therefore changed direction and remained at St Hugh's College studying anthropology, completing a Bachelor of Letters (BLitt) degree in 1964. She undertook postgraduate research on a part-time basis at Oxford, completing her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1970. Her doctoral dissertation was titled "Principles of social organisation among the Uduk speaking people of the southern Fung region, Republic of the Sudan".{{cite thesis|last1=James|first1=Wendy|title=Principles of social organisation among the Uduk speaking people of the southern Fung region, Republic of the Sudan|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.670826|website=E-Thesis Online Service|publisher=The British Library Board|accessdate=4 February 2017|year=1970|type=Ph.D}}
Academic career
From 1964 to 1969, James was a lecturer in social anthropology at the University of Khartoum in Sudan. During this time, she "conducted traditional ethnographic research among the Uduk people living in the Blue Nile region along the Sudan/Ethiopian border". From 1969 to 1971, she was a Leverhulme research Fellow at St Hugh's College, Oxford. Between 1971 and 1972, she was a visiting lecturer at the University of Bergen.
In 1972, James was elected a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford, and appointed a University Lecturer in social anthropology at Oxford's School of Anthropology. She was awarded a Title of Distinction as Professor of Social Anthropology in July 1996.{{cite journal|title=Recognition of Distinction|journal=Oxford University Gazette|date=22 July 1996|volume=4408|issue=Supplement 2|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1995-6/supps/2_4408.htm}} In 2007, she retired from full-time academia and was appointed an Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College.
In addition to her university positions, James held a number of appointments. She was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute from 2001 to 2004. She was Vice-President of the British Institute in Eastern Africa from 2001 to 2011. She worked as an occasional consultant to bodies such as the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Personal life and death
In 1977, James married Douglas H. Johnson, a British historian and academic. Together, they have had two children: one son and one daughter.
James died after a long illness on 27 April 2024, at the age of 84.{{cite news |title=Professor Wendy James obituary: Oxford don and leading Africanist |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/professor-wendy-james-obituary-oxford-don-and-leading-africanist-6tbqq8gzr |access-date=14 May 2024 |publisher=The Times |date=14 May 2024}}
Honours
James was awarded the Amaury Talbot Prize for African Anthropology by the Royal Anthropological Institute for her monograph The Listening Ebony: Moral Knowledge, Religion and Power among the Uduk of Sudan in 1988.{{cite web|title=Amaury Talbot Prize for African Anthropology Past Recipients|url=https://www.therai.org.uk/awards/past-awards/amaury-talbot-prize-for-african-anthropology-past-recipients|website=The RAI|publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute|accessdate=4 February 2017}} In 2005, she was awarded an honorary Dr Scientiarum Anthropologicarum (DSc) degree by the University of Copenhagen. She was awarded the Rivers Memorial Medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute in 2009.{{cite web|title=Rivers Memorial Medal Prior Recipients|url=https://www.therai.org.uk/awards/honours-prior-recipients/rivers-memorial-medal-prior-recipients|website=The RAI|publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute|accessdate=4 February 2017}}
In 1999, James was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.{{cite web|title=Professor Wendy James|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/users/professor-wendy-james|website=British Academy|accessdate=4 February 2017}} In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to scholarship".{{London Gazette |issue= 59808 |date= 11 June 2011 |pages=7–8 |supp= y }}
Selected works
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Cunnison |editor1-first=Ian |editor2-last=James |editor2-first=Wendy |title=Essays in Sudan ethnography: presented to Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard |date=1972 |publisher=Hurst |location=London |isbn=978-0900966545}}
- {{cite book |last1=James |first1=Wendy |title='Kwanim Pa: the making of the Uduk people; an ethnographic study of survival in the Sudan-Ethiopian borderlands |date=1979 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0198231943}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Donham |editor1-first=Donald |editor2-last=James |editor2-first=Wendy |title=The southern marches of imperial Ethiopia: essays in history and social anthropology |date=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0521322379 |edition=1st}}
- {{cite book |last1=James |first1=Wendy |title=The listening ebony: moral knowledge, religion, and power among the Uduk of Sudan |date=1988 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0198234036 |url=https://archive.org/details/listeningebonymo0000jame }}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=James |editor1-first=Wendy |editor2-last=Johnson |editor2-first=Douglas H. |title=Vernacular Christianity: essays in the social anthropology of religion presented to Godfrey Lienhardt |date=1988 |publisher=Lilian Barber Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0936508238}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=James |editor1-first=Wendy |title=The pursuit of certainty: religious and cultural formulations |date=1995 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0415107907}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=James |editor1-first=Wendy |title=Marcel Mauss: a centenary tribute |date=1998 |publisher=Berghahn Books |location=New York |isbn=978-1571817037}}
- {{cite book |last1=James |first1=Wendy |title=The listening ebony: moral knowledge, religion, and power among the Uduk of Sudan |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0198234166 |edition=Paperback}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Dresch |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=James |editor2-first=Wendy |editor3-last=Parkin |editor3-first=David |title=Anthropologists in a wider world: essays on field research |date=2000 |publisher=Berghahn Books |location=New York |isbn=978-1571817990}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Donham |editor1-first=Donald L. |editor2-last=James |editor2-first=Wendy |title=The southern marches of imperial Ethiopia: essays in history and social anthropology |date=2002 |publisher=James Currey |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0821414491 |edition=2nd}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=James |editor1-first=Wendy |editor2-last=Donham |editor2-first=Donald L. |editor3-last=Kurimoto |editor3-first=Eisei |title=Remapping Ethiopia: socialism and after |date=2002 |publisher=J. Currey |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0821414477 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/remappingethiopi01jame }}
- {{cite book |last1=James |first1=Wendy |title=The ceremonial animal: a new portrait of anthropology |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0199263332 |url=https://archive.org/details/ceremonialanimal0000jame }}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=James |editor1-first=Wendy |editor2-last=Mills |editor2-first=David |title=The qualities of time: anthropological approaches |date=2005 |publisher=Berg |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1845200459}}
- {{cite book |last1=Collingwood |first1=R. G. |editor1-last=Boucher |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=James |editor2-first=Wendy |editor3-last=Smallwood |editor3-first=Philip |title=The Philosophy of Enchantment: Studies in Folktale, Cultural Criticism, and Anthropology |date=2005 |publisher=Clarendon |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0199262533}}
- {{cite book |last1=James |first1=Wendy |title=War and survival in Sudan's frontierlands: voices from the Blue Nile |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0199298679}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Allen |editor1-first=Nicholas J. |editor2-last=Callan |editor2-first=Hilary |editor3-last=Dunbar |editor3-first=Robin|editor4-last=James|editor4-first=Wendy|title=Early human kinship: from sex to social reproduction |date=2008 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1405179010}}
References
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External links
- [https://www.sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1123417 Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 15 May 2009 (video)]
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Category:British women anthropologists
Category:British social anthropologists
Category:Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford
Category:Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford
Category:Fellows of St Cross College, Oxford
Category:Academic staff of the University of Khartoum
Category:Fellows of the British Academy
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Category:Presidents of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland