Caroline Humphrey
Encyclopedia
Professor Dame Caroline Humphrey, Lady Rees of Ludlow DBE
, FBA (nee Waddington, born 1 September 1943) is a British
anthropologist. Together with Urgunge Onon she founded the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit (MIASU) in 1986. She retired from her post as Sigrid Rausing Professor of Collaborative Anthropology, University of Cambridge to become Director of MIASU in October 2010.
. Her PhD, completed in 1973, was entitled 'Magical Drawings in the Religion of the Buryat'. Humphrey received the Rivers Memorial Medal from the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1999, and an Honorary Doctorate from the National University of Mongolia in 2003.
In 1967 Humphrey married Nicholas Humphrey
. They had no children and divorced in 1977. In 1986, Humphrey remarried Sir Martin Rees.
Between 1971 and 1978, Humphrey undertook research and official fellowships at Girton College, Cambridge
and at the Scott Polar Research Institute
. From 1978 to 1983 she lectured at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge
, before becoming a Director of Studies in Archaeology and Anthropology in 1984-89 and 1992-96. Humphrey has held the posts of University Reader in Asian Anthropology, University of Cambridge, 1995-8; University Professor of Asian Anthropology, 1998–2006; Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, 2000; and Rausing Professorship of Collaborative Anthropology, 2006–2010.
Humphrey is currently a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge
(1978 - ). She retired in October 2010 and took up a University of Cambridge contract as Voluntary Research Director.
Humphrey was awarded a DBE for services to scholarship in the 2010 New Year Honours list.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, FBA (nee Waddington, born 1 September 1943) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
anthropologist. Together with Urgunge Onon she founded the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit (MIASU) in 1986. She retired from her post as Sigrid Rausing Professor of Collaborative Anthropology, University of Cambridge to become Director of MIASU in October 2010.
Biography
Humphrey received her BA in Social Anthropology from Girton College, CambridgeGirton College, Cambridge
Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential women's college, established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon. The full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the...
. Her PhD, completed in 1973, was entitled 'Magical Drawings in the Religion of the Buryat'. Humphrey received the Rivers Memorial Medal from the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1999, and an Honorary Doctorate from the National University of Mongolia in 2003.
In 1967 Humphrey married Nicholas Humphrey
Nicholas Humphrey
Professor Nicholas Keynes Humphrey is an English psychologist, based in Cambridge, who is known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness. His interests are wide ranging...
. They had no children and divorced in 1977. In 1986, Humphrey remarried Sir Martin Rees.
Research and Positions
Humphrey has conducted extensive research in the USSR (Siberia), Nepal, India, Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia), Uzbekistan and Ukraine. In 1966, she was one of the first anthropologists from a western country to be allowed to do fieldwork in the USSR. Her PHD (1973) focussed on Buryat religious iconography, and ensuing research topics have included Soviet collective farms, the farming economy in India and Tibet, Jainist culture in India, and environmental and cultural conservation in Inner Asia.Between 1971 and 1978, Humphrey undertook research and official fellowships at Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential women's college, established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon. The full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the...
and at the Scott Polar Research Institute
Scott Polar Research Institute
The Scott Polar Research Institute is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south of Cambridge ....
. From 1978 to 1983 she lectured at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, before becoming a Director of Studies in Archaeology and Anthropology in 1984-89 and 1992-96. Humphrey has held the posts of University Reader in Asian Anthropology, University of Cambridge, 1995-8; University Professor of Asian Anthropology, 1998–2006; Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, 2000; and Rausing Professorship of Collaborative Anthropology, 2006–2010.
Humphrey is currently a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
(1978 - ). She retired in October 2010 and took up a University of Cambridge contract as Voluntary Research Director.
Humphrey was awarded a DBE for services to scholarship in the 2010 New Year Honours list.
Work
- Karl Marx Collective: Economy, Society and Religion in a Siberian Collective Farm [Staley Prize, School of American Research] (1983)
- (ed. with Michael Carrithers) The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society (1991)
- (ed. with Stephen Hugh-Jones) Barter, Exchange and Value (1992)
- (ed. with Nicholas Thomas) Shamanism, History and the State (1994)
- (with James Laidlaw) The Archetypal Actions of Ritual, illustrated by the Jain rite of worship (1994)
- (with Urgunge Onon) Shamans and Elders: Experience, Knowledge and Power among the Daur Mongols (1996)
- (ed. with David Sneath) Culture and Environment in Inner Asia (1996)
- (with Piers Vitebsky) Sacred Architecture (1997) [This is a popular work]
- Marx Went Away, but Karl Stayed Behind (1998)
- (with David Sneath) The End of Nomadism? Society, the State and the Environment in Inner Asia (1999)
- (ed. with A. Tulokhonov) Kul'tura i Priroda vo Vnutrenneyi Azii (Culture and Environment in Inner Asia, in Russian) (2001)
- (ed. with David Sneath) Dotugadu Aziiya-yin Soyol kiged Baigal Orchim (Environment and Culture of Inner Asia, in Mongolian) (2002)
- The Unmaking of Soviet Life: Everyday Economies After Socialism [Heldt Prize] (2002)
- (ed. with Katherine Verdery) Property in Question: Value Transformation in the Global Economy (2004)
- (ed. with Catherine Alexander and Victor Buchli) Urban Life in Post-Soviet Central Asia (2007)