Career

Bulmer earned his B.A. 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...

 (1953) and his Ph.D. at Australian National University

Australian National University

The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...

 (1962). His doctorate was based on field-work in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

, where he documented the social and political life of the Kyaka-Enga people in the Baiyer Valley.

His later work, as lecturer in Social Anthropology

Social anthropology

Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...

 at the University of Auckland

University of Auckland

The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...

, was in the field of Ethnobiology, particularly documenting the Kalam

Kalam

ʿIlm al-Kalām is the Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological principles through dialectic. Kalām in Islamic practice relates to the discipline of seeking theological knowledge through debate and argument. A scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim...

 people's interaction with, and beliefs about, birds.

Bulmer also served as Foundation Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Papua New Guinea

University of Papua New Guinea

The University of Papua New Guinea was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired into higher education in Papua New Guinea...

 (1968-73).

A memorial volume was published, Man and a Half: Essays in Pacific Anthropology and Ethnobiology in Honour of Ralph Bulmer, edited by Andrew Pawley

Andrew Pawley

Andrew Kenneth Pawley , MA, PhD , FRSNZ, FAHA, is Emeritus Professor at the School of Culture, History & Language of the College of Asia & the Pacific at the Australian National University...

 (University of Hawaii Press, 1993).

Writings

Bulmer is best known for his collaborations with Ian Saem Majnep:

• Birds of My Kalam Country (1977).
• Kalam Hunting Traditions in 6 parts (1990).
• Animals the Ancestors Hunted, edited by Robin Hide and Andrew Pawley (2007).

Towards the end of his life, Bulmer also considered biblical ethnobiology, leading to the publication of The Unsolved Problems of the Birds of Leviticus (1986).

External links

• Highlights of the Anthropology Photographic Archive, University of Auckland.