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Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism. He conducted fieldwork in the Andaman Islands and Western Australia, which became the basis of his later books. He held academic appointments at universities in Cape Town, Sydney, Chicago, and Oxford, and sought to model the field of anthropology after the natural sciences.
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown was born Alfred Reginald Brown in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, England, the second son of Alfred Brown (d.1886), a manufacturer's clerk, and Hannah Brown (née Radcliffe). He later changed his last name, by deed poll, to Radcliffe-Brown, Radcliffe being his mother's maiden name. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1905; M.A., 1909), graduating with first-class honours in the moral sciences tripos. At Trinity College, he was elected Anthony Wilkin student in 1906 and 1909. While still a student, he earned the nickname "Anarchy Brown" for his close interest in the writings of the anarcho-communist and scientist Peter Kropotkin.
Like other young men with blood in their veins, I wanted to do something to reform the world – to get rid of poverty and war, and so on. So I read Godwin, Proudhon, Marx and innumerable others. Kropotkin, revolutionary, but still a scientist, pointed out how important for any attempt to improve society was a scientific understanding of it.
He studied psychology under W. H. R. Rivers who, with A. C. Haddon, led him toward social anthropology. Under the latter's influence, he travelled to the Andaman Islands (1906–1908) and Western Australia (1910–1912, with biologist and writer E. L. Grant Watson and Australian writer Daisy Bates) to conduct fieldwork into the workings of the societies there.
His time in the Andaman Islands and Western Australia were the basis of his later books The Andaman Islanders (1922) and The Social Organization of Australian Tribes (1930). At the 1914 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in Melbourne, Bates accused him of plagiarising her work, based on an unpublished manuscript she had sent him for comment.
Before departing for Western Australia, Brown married Winifred Marie Lyon in Cambridge; they had one daughter, Mary Cynthia Lyon Radcliffe. The couple became estranged by about 1926. They may have divorced in 1938 (sources disagree on whether a divorce was completed).
In 1916 Brown became a director of education in Tonga. In 1921 he moved to Cape Town to become professor of social anthropology, founding the School of African Life. Further university appointments were University of Cape Town (1921–1925), University of Sydney (1925–1931) and University of Chicago (1931–1937). Among his most prominent students during his years at the University of Chicago were Sol Tax and Fred Eggan.
While at the University of Sydney, he was a cultivator of the arts and championed Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the author of the works attributed to Shakespeare. Fearing that Depression may lead to financial collapse Radcliffe-Brown departed in 1931 to fill a chair at the University of Chicago, leaving his successors to solicit Rockefeller grants and government funds to save the Sydney Department.
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Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism. He conducted fieldwork in the Andaman Islands and Western Australia, which became the basis of his later books. He held academic appointments at universities in Cape Town, Sydney, Chicago, and Oxford, and sought to model the field of anthropology after the natural sciences.
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown was born Alfred Reginald Brown in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, England, the second son of Alfred Brown (d.1886), a manufacturer's clerk, and Hannah Brown (née Radcliffe). He later changed his last name, by deed poll, to Radcliffe-Brown, Radcliffe being his mother's maiden name. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1905; M.A., 1909), graduating with first-class honours in the moral sciences tripos. At Trinity College, he was elected Anthony Wilkin student in 1906 and 1909. While still a student, he earned the nickname "Anarchy Brown" for his close interest in the writings of the anarcho-communist and scientist Peter Kropotkin.
Like other young men with blood in their veins, I wanted to do something to reform the world – to get rid of poverty and war, and so on. So I read Godwin, Proudhon, Marx and innumerable others. Kropotkin, revolutionary, but still a scientist, pointed out how important for any attempt to improve society was a scientific understanding of it.
He studied psychology under W. H. R. Rivers who, with A. C. Haddon, led him toward social anthropology. Under the latter's influence, he travelled to the Andaman Islands (1906–1908) and Western Australia (1910–1912, with biologist and writer E. L. Grant Watson and Australian writer Daisy Bates) to conduct fieldwork into the workings of the societies there.
His time in the Andaman Islands and Western Australia were the basis of his later books The Andaman Islanders (1922) and The Social Organization of Australian Tribes (1930). At the 1914 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in Melbourne, Bates accused him of plagiarising her work, based on an unpublished manuscript she had sent him for comment.
Before departing for Western Australia, Brown married Winifred Marie Lyon in Cambridge; they had one daughter, Mary Cynthia Lyon Radcliffe. The couple became estranged by about 1926. They may have divorced in 1938 (sources disagree on whether a divorce was completed).
In 1916 Brown became a director of education in Tonga. In 1921 he moved to Cape Town to become professor of social anthropology, founding the School of African Life. Further university appointments were University of Cape Town (1921–1925), University of Sydney (1925–1931) and University of Chicago (1931–1937). Among his most prominent students during his years at the University of Chicago were Sol Tax and Fred Eggan.
While at the University of Sydney, he was a cultivator of the arts and championed Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the author of the works attributed to Shakespeare. Fearing that Depression may lead to financial collapse Radcliffe-Brown departed in 1931 to fill a chair at the University of Chicago, leaving his successors to solicit Rockefeller grants and government funds to save the Sydney Department.