Robert F. Murphy (anthropologist)
Encyclopedia
Robert Francis Murphy was a distinguished anthropologist and professor of anthropology at Columbia University
in New York City
, from the early 1960s to 1990. His field work included studies of the Munduruku
(Mundurucu) people of the Amazon and the Tuareg people of the Sahara.
. His grandmother worked in a textile mill in New Hampshire, and his mother struggled to raise five young children with a mostly absent father in a "lace-curtain Irish" neighborhood of Queens
; she suffered from breast cancer until she died when Bob was 14.
He enlisted
in the United States Navy
during World War II
, serving as a private
. He used the G.I. Bill to attend Columbia College
as an undergraduate
. Murphy went on to earn his Master of Arts
and Ph.D.
in anthropology
at Columbia University
. He met his wife Yolanda in a physical anthropology
course in graduate school
, and they were married in St. Paul's Chapel
at Columbia University.
In 1952 the Murphys set out to do fieldwork for a year among the Munduruku
of the Amazon Rainforest
in Brazil
, where they studied, among other things, the dynamics of a patrilineal society
with matrilocal residence patterns. Bob taught at the University of California, Berkeley
for several years before taking a professorship at Columbia. In the early 1960s, Bob and Yolanda, with their two small children Robert and Pamela in tow, trekked to the Sahara
to undertake a second fieldwork among the Tuareg of Niger
, where Bob, who was fond of paradoxes, was able to study a matrilineal society
with patrilocal residence
patterns.
He died of heart failure on October 8, 1990, at his home in Leonia, New Jersey
.
's cultural ecology
approach in his early years, Murphy was an eclectic thinker who engaged Marx, Freud, Hegel, Simmel, and Schutz, and who incorporated ideas from diverse areas of anthropology theory — materialist, structuralist
, and symbol
ic. Murphy wrote numerous articles and books, including:
Margaret Mead
called Women of the Forest "a salute to women's liberation in a portrait of a fascinating primitive people." When Mead died in 1978, Murphy extolled her strengths as the most famous anthropologist who ever lived, "a towering personality," on radio station 1010 WINS, the major news station in New York City.
of the spinal cord
that would unrelentingly lead to impairment of his central nervous system
and greater loss of bodily functions over the next 16 years of his life; within two years, by 1976, he was paraplegic and used a wheelchair full-time. Murphy had the "rage to live," and began to edit his popular lectures on cultural anthropology for a new textbook, Overture to Social Anthropology (1979), later revised into second (1986) and third (1989) editions before he died. Murphy dramatically transformed his scholarly efforts into an anthropological study of paraplegia
, a major project funded by the National Science Foundation
, which he wrote about in his ethnography of "the damaged self," The Body Silent: The Different World of the Disabled
(1987, 1990, 2001), which won the Columbia University Lionel Trilling Award.
in 1968.
American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Sep., 1981), pp. 714–717
Murphy, Robert, and Yolanda Murphy
Fried, Morton, Marvin Harris, and Robert Murphy, eds.
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, from the early 1960s to 1990. His field work included studies of the Munduruku
Munduruku
The Munduruku are an indigenous people of Brazil living in the Amazon River basin. Some Mundurucu communities are part of the Coatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land. They had an estimated population in 2010 of 11,640.-History:...
(Mundurucu) people of the Amazon and the Tuareg people of the Sahara.
Family, education, career
Murphy was a third generation descendant of Irish immigrants and grew up in Far Rockaway, QueensFar Rockaway, Queens
Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood starts at the Nassau County line and extends west to Beach 32nd Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community...
. His grandmother worked in a textile mill in New Hampshire, and his mother struggled to raise five young children with a mostly absent father in a "lace-curtain Irish" neighborhood of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
; she suffered from breast cancer until she died when Bob was 14.
He enlisted
Enlisted rank
An enlisted rank is, in most Militaries, any rank below a commissioned officer or warrant officer. The term can also be inclusive of non-commissioned officers...
in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, serving as a private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
. He used the G.I. Bill to attend Columbia College
Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...
as an undergraduate
Undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is an education level taken prior to gaining a first degree . Hence, in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is...
. Murphy went on to earn his Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He met his wife Yolanda in a physical anthropology
Biological anthropology
Biological anthropology is that branch of anthropology that studies the physical development of the human species. It plays an important part in paleoanthropology and in forensic anthropology...
course in graduate school
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
, and they were married in St. Paul's Chapel
St. Paul's Chapel (Columbia University)
St. Paul's Chapel is the chapel of Columbia University in New York City. Designed and built from 1904 to 1907 by I. N. Phelps Stokes of the architectural firm Howells & Stokes in an elaborate mixture of Italian Renaissance, Byzantine, and Gothic styles, its interior features Guastavino tile...
at Columbia University.
In 1952 the Murphys set out to do fieldwork for a year among the Munduruku
Munduruku
The Munduruku are an indigenous people of Brazil living in the Amazon River basin. Some Mundurucu communities are part of the Coatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land. They had an estimated population in 2010 of 11,640.-History:...
of the Amazon Rainforest
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, where they studied, among other things, the dynamics of a patrilineal society
Patrilineality
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
with matrilocal residence patterns. Bob taught at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
for several years before taking a professorship at Columbia. In the early 1960s, Bob and Yolanda, with their two small children Robert and Pamela in tow, trekked to the Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
to undertake a second fieldwork among the Tuareg of Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, where Bob, who was fond of paradoxes, was able to study a matrilineal society
Matrilineality
Matrilineality is a system in which descent is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. Matrilineality is also a societal system in which one belongs to one's matriline or mother's lineage, which can involve the inheritance of property and/or titles.A matriline is a line of descent from a...
with patrilocal residence
Patrilocal residence
In social anthropology, patrilocal residence or patrilocality is a term referring to the social system in which a married couple resides with or near the husband's parents. The concept of location may extend to a larger area such as a village, town, or clan area...
patterns.
He died of heart failure on October 8, 1990, at his home in Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,937. It is located near the western approach to the George Washington Bridge....
.
Scholarly contributions to anthropology
A student of Julian StewardJulian Steward
Julian Haynes Steward was an American anthropologist best known for his role in developing "the concept and method" of cultural ecology, as well as a scientific theory of culture change.-Early life and education:...
's cultural ecology
Cultural ecology
Cultural ecology studies the relationship between a given society and its natural environment as well as the life-forms and ecosystems that support its lifeways . This may be carried out diachronically , or synchronically...
approach in his early years, Murphy was an eclectic thinker who engaged Marx, Freud, Hegel, Simmel, and Schutz, and who incorporated ideas from diverse areas of anthropology theory — materialist, structuralist
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
, and symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ic. Murphy wrote numerous articles and books, including:
- The Trumai Indians of Central Brazil (Monographs of the American Ethnological Society) (1955) (based upon field notes of Buell QuainBuell QuainBuell Halvor Quain was an American ethnologist who, after graduating from Columbia University, worked with native peoples in Fiji and Brazil...
) - Tappers and Trappers: Parallel Process in Acculturation (1956) Economic Development and Cultural Change 4.
- Matrilocality and Patrilineality in Mundurucu Society. American Anthropologist (1956) Vol. 58 (3:3): 414-433
- Mundurucu Religion (University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology) (1958)
- The Structure of Parallel Cousin Marriage (1959)
- Headhunter's Heritage: Social and Economic Change Among the Mundurucu Indians (1960)
- Social Distance and the Veil (about Tuareg men's veiling practices) (1964)
- The Dialectics of Social Life: Alarms and Excursions in Anthropological Theory (1971)
- Robert H. Lowie (Leaders of Modern Anthropology) (1972)
- Evolution and Ecology: Essays on Social Transformation (1978, co-authored with Julian H. Steward and Jane C. Steward)
- American Anthropology, 1946-1970: Papers from the American Anthropologist (2002)
- Women of the Forest (1974), co-authored with Yolanda (first author), now in a 30th anniversary edition (2004)
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
called Women of the Forest "a salute to women's liberation in a portrait of a fascinating primitive people." When Mead died in 1978, Murphy extolled her strengths as the most famous anthropologist who ever lived, "a towering personality," on radio station 1010 WINS, the major news station in New York City.
Disability
In 1974, Murphy experienced a tragic turn of events, as he began to lose motor control to his lower extremities. He was diagnosed as having a benign but slow-growing tumorTumor
A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...
of the spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
that would unrelentingly lead to impairment of his central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
and greater loss of bodily functions over the next 16 years of his life; within two years, by 1976, he was paraplegic and used a wheelchair full-time. Murphy had the "rage to live," and began to edit his popular lectures on cultural anthropology for a new textbook, Overture to Social Anthropology (1979), later revised into second (1986) and third (1989) editions before he died. Murphy dramatically transformed his scholarly efforts into an anthropological study of paraplegia
Paraplegia
Paraplegia is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek: παραπληγίη "half-striking". It is usually the result of spinal cord injury or a congenital condition such as spina bifida that affects the neural elements of the spinal canal...
, a major project funded by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, which he wrote about in his ethnography of "the damaged self," The Body Silent: The Different World of the Disabled
The Body Silent
The Body Silent is a personal narrative written by Robert Murphy, a professor at Columbia University. This piece is a narrative of personal struggle through a spinal condition, published in 1987 by Henry Holt and Company, Inc. He uses this narrative to tell his journey through a deteriorating...
(1987, 1990, 2001), which won the Columbia University Lionel Trilling Award.
Teaching style
Murphy was a charismatic and extraordinarily popular teacher among the students at Columbia. His wry sense of humor and appreciation for irony caught the imaginations of thousands of Columbia undergraduates, and he regularly taught large auditorium-sized classes, even when his condition forced him to use a motorized wheelchair and speak through a microphone. Murphy won teaching awards and numerous academic awards, and was a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial FoundationJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
in 1968.
Other publications
Murphy, Robert F.- 1970 Basin Ethnography and Ecological Theory. In Language and Culture of Western North America: Essays in Honor of Sven S. Liljeblad, edited by Earl H. Swanson Jr., pp. 152–171. Pocatello: Idaho State University Press.
- 1977 Introduction: The Anthropological Theories of Julian H. Steward. In Evolution and Ecology: Essays on Social Transformation, edited by Jane Cannon Steward and R.F. Murphy, pp. 1–40. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
- 1981 Julian Steward. In Totems and Teachers, edited by Sydel Silverman, pp. 171–204. New York: Columbia University Press.
- 1981 (Book Review) The Way of the Shaman: A Guide to Power and Healing by Michael Harner. Review author[s]: Robert Murphy
American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Sep., 1981), pp. 714–717
- 1986 Social Structure and Sex Antagonism. Journal of Anthropological Research 42 (1986), 407-416.
- 1987 American Anthropology. In Perspectives in Cultural Anthropology, edited by Herbert Applebaum. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Murphy, Robert, and Yolanda Murphy
- 1960 Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and Society. University of California Anthropological Records. Berkeley: University of California Press, 16(7):293-338.
- 1986 Northern Shoshone and Bannock. In Handbook of North American Indians: 11. Great Basin, edited by Warren L. d'Azevedo, pp. 284–307. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Fried, Morton, Marvin Harris, and Robert Murphy, eds.
- 1967 War: The Anthropology of Armed Conflict and Aggression. Garden City, NY: Natural History Press.