Paul Bohannan

 ( 1920 Births ) 

Paul James Bohannan (March 5, 1920 – July 13, 2007) was an American anthropologist known for his research on the Tiv people of Nigeria, spheres of exchange and divorce in the United States.

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Early life and education Bohannan was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Hillory Bohannan and Hazel Truex Bohannan. During the Dust Bowl his family moved to Benson, Arizona. World War II interrupted his college education, and he served in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps from 1941 to 1945 reaching the rank of captain. In 1947 he graduated Phi Beta KappaStaff (1947) "Phi Beta Kappa to Accept 16" Tucson Daily Citizen 4 April 1947, p. 3, col. 6 with his bachelor's degree in German languageStaff (1946) "3 Chosen for Rhodes Honor" Tucson Daily Citizen 13 December 1946, p. 18, col. 3 from the University of Arizona. He attended Queen's College, Oxford, thereafter as a Rhodes scholar,Johnson, Pamela J. (2007) "Pioneering Anthropologist was Authority on the Tiv Tribe" USC College News, July 2007 receiving a Bachelor of Science in 1949 and his Doctorate in 1951, both in anthropology.

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Academic career Bohannan remained in England and was a lecturer in social anthropology at Oxford University until 1956 when he returned to the United States taking up an assistant professorship in anthropology at Princeton University. In 1959, Bohannan left Princeton for a full professorship at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. From 1975 to 1982 he taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1982 he became dean of the social science and communications department at the University of Southern California (U.S.C.). He retired from full-time teaching in 1987, but remained at U.S.C. as professor emeritus until his death.

From 1962 to 1964 Bohannan was a director on the Social Science Research Council. He was a director of American Ethnological Society from 1963 to 1966. Bohannan was president of the African Studies Association in 1964. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1970. In 1979–1980, he was president of the American Anthropological Association.

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Personal life

Bohannan married Laura Bohannan, an anthropologist with whom he collaborated on Tiv Economy, on 15 May 1943. They had one son, Denis, and were divorced in 1975. He remained married to his second wife, Adelyse D'Arcy, from 1981 until his death. Bohannan died on 13 July 2007, in Visalia, California. He was a connoisseur of Scotch whisky and a ballet enthusiast.

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Awards

• 1944 Legion of Merit.
• 1969 Herskovitz Prize for Tiv Economy, shared with his wife Laura Bohannan.

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Selected bibliography

• (Fourth Edition with published Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 1995)
• (1991). 9780881336375, Waveland Press. ISBN 9780881336375
• (1995). 9780029045053, Free Press. . ISBN 9780029045053
• With van der Elst, Dirk (1998). Asking and Listening: Ethnography as Personal Adaptation. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. .

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Notes

Categories: 1920 Births, 2007 Deaths, 20th-century American Anthropologists, Writers From Lincoln, Nebraska, American Social Anthropologists, American Africanists, American Rhodes Scholars, Academics Of The University Of Oxford, American Expatriate Academics In The United Kingdom, Princeton University Faculty, Northwestern University Faculty, University Of California, Santa Barbara Faculty, University Of Southern California Faculty, University Of Arizona Alumni, Alumni Of The Queen's College, Oxford, Recipients Of The Legion Of Merit, People From Benson, Arizona, United States Army Personnel Of World War Ii, Members Of The American Philosophical Society, Presidents Of The African Studies Association, Asa Best Book Prize Winners

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