Bernard S. Cohn (May 13, 1928 – November 23, 2003) was an American anthropologist and scholar of British colonialism in India, primarily affiliated with the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Life and career

Born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, Cohn received a B.A. in history from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in 1949 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1954. From 1952-3 he engaged in field research in India as a

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

. In addition to Chicago, he also taught at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

and was a research assistant for the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

. In 1968, he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Works

Cohn's contributions included work on India's

caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...

, by which he claimed that caste was solidified as a concept by the British codification of it, as well as the establishment of

historical anthropology Historical anthropology is a historiographical movement which applies methodologies and objectives from social and cultural anthropology to the study of historical societies. Like most such movements, it is understood in different ways by differe ...

as a means to link the disciplines of anthropology and history. This work intersected with earlier work about syncretism between these two disciplines by Alfred L. Kroeber, as well as essays by

Clifford Geertz Clifford James Geertz (; August 23, 1926 – October 30, 2006) was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology and who was considered "for three decades&n ...

. Cohn's works include ''Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge'' (1996), ''An Anthropologist Among the Historians'' (1987) and ''India: The Social Anthropology of a Civilization'' (1971). His students, including Nicholas Dirks, Ronald Inden, Vinay Lal, Antoinette Burton, and Ritty Lukose, have continued in the vein of his work. His work has been closely studied by members of Subaltern Studies, especially

Ranajit Guha Ranajit Guha (23 May 1923 – 28 April 2023) emerged as a prominent Indian historian and a seminal figure among the early architects of the Subaltern Studies collective. This methodological approach within South Asian Studies is dedicated to t ...

External links

Obituary from the University of ChicagoGuide to the Bernard Cohn Papers 1942-2000
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohn, Bernard University of Chicago faculty Cornell University alumni 1928 births 2003 deaths University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Historians of India