Erika Bourguignon

1924- Present

    Erika Bourguignon was born in Vienna, Austria in 1924.  Before she and her parents were forced into exile in the 1930’s, Bourguignon had been receiving her elementary and secondary education in Austria. Thereafter, she was schooled in Palestine, Switzerland and New York. She continued her education in the United States by attending Queens College, in New York where she received her B.A. She then went to Northwestern University, where she received her Ph.D. in Anthropology. She was married to the late Paul-Henri Bourguignon, who was an well-known artist, novelist, journalist, and art collector.

    She became a professor of Anthropology at Ohio State University in 1949. She taught classes on Caribbean, Latin American and African cultures. Professor Bourguignon and her husband  created a series called "Man and His Music for WOSU radio in the 1950's. The main format of the series was to examine ancient and primitive music and how it effected western music development. Professor Bourguignon has lectured extensively, including at the American Anthropological Association conferences in Washington D.C. in 1997. She is renowned internationally for contributions advancing all fields of anthropology but especially her works and publications on the anthropology of religion, and works on psychiatric anthropology. She also conducted important  fieldwork in Haiti and  with the Chippewa Indians in North America.

    Professor Bourguignon was the Ohio State University Distinguished Research Scholar of 1986. She was chair of the Anthropology Department from 1971-1976. She retired in 1990 from Ohio State University after a forty year career. In 2000 she was given an honorary doctorate from Queens College in New York City. "The Erika and Paul Bourguignon Lectures in Art and Anthropology" was created and sponsored by her. Extensive donations from her and her husband's collections of photographs and books have been made to Ohio State University.

    Professor Bourguignon has written numerous articles and books, including an article in the fall 1996 issue of General Anthropology where she wrote about American Anthropology. She has also recently edited, together with Professor Rigney of Ohio State University, the memoir of her aunt, Broka Schneider. The work was titled An American Anthropologist’s Reflections on the Memoir of an Austrian Refugee of 1939. Some of her other publications are:

 Religion Altered States of Consciousness and Social Change (1973)

 Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Religious Use of Altered States of Consciousness (1974)

 Possession (1976)

 Psychological Anthropology: An Introduction to Human Nature and Cultural Differences (1979)

 

References:

http://www.cla.sc.edu/ANTH/Womeninanthropology (2006)

Former link, http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/sac/aaaprog.htm\ (2006)

http://www.chapelhill.com/Issues/1998/09/27/arts01.html none;text-underline:none (2006)

Former link, http://www.ameranthassn.org/gadpubs.htm (2006)

http://innerartblogO.blogspot.com

http://mershoncenter.osu.edu/events/08-09%20events/Feb09/mirrorscompassesfeb08.htm Accessed November, 2008.

 

Written by: Billy Pierce

Edited by: Lillian Dolentz, 2008