Firth, Raymond (1901–2002)

Thomas K. Park

From his position as a professor of anthropology at London School of Economics (LSE), Sir Raymond William Firth was in a position to influence studies of Pacific anthropology while contributing to anthropological theory in many areas, but he did so most prominently in economic anthropology. Firth studied at LSE, primarily with Malinowski, though he initially wavered between becoming an economist or an anthropologist. Born in Auckland, New Zealand (March 25, 1901), Firth received his PhD from LSE in 1927, based on a dissertation on Maori economics, and then began work among the Tikopia (1928–1929), which produced multiple monographs (from 1936–1970). Firth spent 1939 to 1940 in Malaya doing fieldwork, with his wife Rosemary studying fish marketing while she studied household economics. Firth taught in Sydney from 1930 to 1932 and in 1933 took ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.