E. E. Evans-Pritchard

1902 - 1973

sculpted by Ian Scott, Sir Edward E.Evans-Pritchard,
Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Oxford 1946 - 70 Copyright Marcus Banks
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/isca/history.html ISCA 1997

Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard was born in Sussex, England on September 21, 1902. He studied history at the University of Oxford. It was there that Evans-Pritchard was introduced to the work of famous philosopher and historian, R. R. Marett. Evans-Pritchard did his post-graduate work in anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LCE). He then became familiar with the work of Bronislaw Malinowski.

In 1926 Evans-Pritchard began his fieldwork on the upper Nile among the Azande people. His doctorate in 1927 and his first book, published in 1937, called Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande, came out of that experience. That book became a classic in the anthropology field. Besides lecturing at LCE, he continued his fieldwork until 1930 among the Azande. He then moved his research interests to the southern Sudan and the Nuer people. In 1932 he accepted an appointment at the University of Cairo.

It was while he was in Cairo that he became acquainted with Alfred Radcliffe-Brown and Meyer Fortes, both of whom would have a huge impact on Evans-Pritchard. Evans-Pritchard used Radcliffe-Brown's theory on structural functionalism in his research among the Nuer. His works, The Nuer, Nuer Religion, and Kinship and Marriage Among the Nuer, made up the trilogy that became classics in British social anthropology.

Evans-Pritchard was not able to acquire a teaching position because Malinowski was very much in disagreement with the contents of Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande. Due to Malinowski's reputation and wide circle of influence, it was not until after 1942, when Malinowski, died that Evans-Pritchard, with the assistance of Radcliffe-Brown, was able to become a hired professor. Like many other anthropologists of the time, Evans-Pritchard served in World War II. He spent time in Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Ethiopia.

Evans-Pritchard began his career at Oxford in 1946 and remained there. He became well known for his disagreement with the current thinking of the time that anthropology was a natural science. He argued that it was more like history and the people being studied were "dehumanized" when only studied scientifically. He believed that one needed to study the culture "from within" to best understand it fully.

Evans-Pritchard had world-wide influence, not only in his theories but while at Oxford, he enlarged the school of social anthropology, which in turn attracted students from all parts of the world. Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard was knighted in 1971 and died on September 11, 1973.

References:

http://southernsudan.prm.ox.ac.uk/biography/pritchard_collection/

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Edward_E._Evans-Pritchard. Electronic document, accessed August 19, 2009.

Written by: Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota

Rewritten by: Lillian Dolentz, 2009