Chris Knight (born 1942) is a British anthropologist.
Life
Professional
Following an MPhil in Russian Literature from the
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...
in 1975, Knight gained his PhD in 1987 at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
for a thesis on
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...
's four-volume '' Mythologiques''. He became a lecturer in anthropology at the
University of East London
University of East London (UEL) is a public university located in the London Borough of Newham, London, England, based at three campuses in Stratford, London, Stratford and London Docklands, Docklands, following the opening of University Squar ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 27 March 2009 A founding member of the "Radical Anthropology Group" (RAG), Knight is currently a senior research fellow in the Department of Anthropology,
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
.
Since graduating from the University of Sussex in 1966, Knight has been exploring the idea that language emerged in the human species through a process of incremental Darwinian evolution culminating at a certain point in revolutionary change. Becoming human was, from this perspective, a classic instance of a dialectical process, i.e. one in which quantitative change culminates eventually in a qualitative leap. In pursuing this line of thought, Knight takes inspiration not only from modern Darwinian theorists such as Eörs Szathmáry and
John Maynard Smith
John Maynard Smith (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British mathematical and theoretical biology, theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he ...
but also from
Karl Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
and
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels" ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.James Hurford, Knight co-founded the EVOLANG series of international conferences on the
origins of language
Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Comics and manga
* Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002
* The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...
, since when he has become a prominent figure in debates on this topic.
Knight's central insight – that the evolutionary emergence of language in ''Homo sapiens'' presupposed unprecedented levels of community-wide trust – has led to the establishment of a distinctive EVOLANG school. Sometimes identified as ‘the platform of trust’ perspective, scientists in this intellectual tradition include robotics engineer and pioneer in artificial intelligence Luc Steels, evolutionary linguists Sławomir Wacewicz and Przemysław Żywiczyński and the theoretical linguist and specialist in Chomsky's Minimalist approach to syntax Cedric Boeckx. In recognition of his contribution to evolutionary linguistics, Knight was awarded the Evolutionary Linguistics Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award at an event held in Vienna in April 2014.
Selected works
''Blood Relations: Menstruation and the Origins of Culture''
Published in 1991, Knight's first full-length book, ''Blood Relations: Menstruation and the origins of culture'' was favourably reviewed in '' The Times Higher Education Supplement'', ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...
''Science Now'' programme.
''Decoding Chomsky: Science and Revolutionary Politics''
Knight's more recent book, ''Decoding Chomsky'' is a sustained exploration of
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...
's approach to science and its relationship to politics.
The book's publication in October 2016 sparked instant public controversy. A reviewer for the US ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' hailed it as perhaps 'the most in-depth meditation on "the Chomsky problem" ever published', recommending it as 'a compelling read'. In Britain, ''The New Scientist'' described Knight's controversial account as 'trenchant and compelling.'
Chomsky responded dismissively to Knight's book in both ''The New York Times'' and ''The London Review of Books.'' Linguists Norbert Hornstein and Frederick Newmeyer have also argued that Knight misrepresents Chomsky's views and have rejected his thesis about the motivation behind Chomsky's approach to linguistics.
Edinburgh University Press
Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
History
Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 2000. .
* (ed. with R. Botha ''The Prehistory of Language''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. .
* (ed. with R. Botha ''The Cradle of Language''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
* (ed. with D. Dor and J. Lewis ''The Social Origins of Language.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
* (ed. with N. Allott and Neil Smith) ''The Responsibility of Intellectuals. Reflections by Noam Chomsky and others after 50 years.'' London: University College Press, 2019.
Activism
Initially a supporter of the Militant tendency in the Labour Party, Chris Knight was later a founder editor of the journal '' Labour Briefing''David Cohen "Meet Mister Mayhem" ''Evening Standard'' ( ThisIsLondon.com website), 25 March 2009 (he remains on the board) and has a long record of political activism. Although sometimes described as an anarchist,Knight, C. and C. Power 2012 Arrest for Attempted Street Theatre. ''Anthropology Today'', Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 24–26. Knight defines himself intellectually as working within the tradition of
Marxism
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
.
During the 1984–1985 miners' strike, Knight was involved in setting up a group called ''Pit Dragon'' with the aim of bringing together writers and artists in support of the miners. Roland Muldoon of the CAST theatre company played a significant role in the organisation's success, as did the children's writer Michael Rosen. According to the ''New Musical Express,'' writing at the time: Pit Dragon'' has managed to harness the talents of every worthwhile artist on the seamier side of the London cabaret circuit and the potential to develop into the most dynamic political/cultural organisation since Rock Against Racism.' In February 1985, the group planned an unusual way of turning a mass picket into a lively cultural occasion. Knight had the idea of inviting fire-eaters, tightrope walkers, poets, comedians, jugglers and musicians to meet at the gates of Neasden Power Station in Brent, North London. The police were warned in advance, the artists staged their performances on the picket line and not one truck even attempted to get through. The picket was counted a success when the power station was shut down for the day.
Reminiscent of the carnivalesque atmosphere outside the Neasden Power Station was the mass picket held in Liverpool to celebrate the first anniversary of the Liverpool dockers' strike and lock-out which had begun late in 1995. Linking up with activists in the anti-car movement Reclaim the Streets, Knight used his position in the London Support Group to introduce the dockers to these 'Kill the Car' environmentalists. Realizing they had much in common, the two culturally different groups spent the summer of 1996 working on an ambitious plan. On 28 September, a 10,000 strong celebratory cultural event and street party was held on the quayside, followed at break of dawn next morning by a mass picket and symbolic roof-top occupation of what the dockers termed 'the rat house' – the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company headquarters and nearby gantries.
For twelve months, Britain's mainstream media outlets had effectively ignored the long-running dispute. But the dockers' alliance with musicians and environmentalists now drew global attention to their cause, giving them new courage and inspiring them to continue their strike into its second year. The dispute now gathered momentum in such a way that by late January 1997, trade unionists in over a hundred ports and cities across the world had linked up with environmentalists and others in making the action global. In the end, the dockers' picket line proved to be not only global in reach but a record-breaker in lasting for more than two years.
Since the early decades of the twentieth century, industrial militancy by dockers had been uniquely internationalist for reasons intrinsic to their particular trade. Once a tanker has been forced by pickets to unload elsewhere, other ports get drawn into the dispute. And so it was that in the months building up to the 'Battle of Seattle', the slogan invented for their own reasons by Liverpool's militant dockers – 'Another World Is Possible' – began hitting the headlines across the world.
Among the roots of the 'Battle of Seattle' which broke out in November 1999 were the cultural events sponsored by Knight and his Reclaim the Streets friends in Liverpool on the opposite side of the world. Seattle had been the port where, two years earlier, an alliance between dockers, musicians, environmentalists and others had combined forces in support of an internationalist cause. 'Save the Whales' and 'Save the Turtles' activists had long been working alongside 'Save Our Jobs' trade unionists. These developments in Seattle ensured that when the World Trade Organization decided to hold its 1999 Convention in the city, activists across the area were primed for unusually creative and imaginative resistance to the WTO's globalisation project. Seattle and its surroundings had by this stage become effectively a powder keg.
During the build-up to the 2009 G-20 Summit in London, Knight was involved in a street theatre group known as The Government of the Dead. Statements he made at this time in an interview for the London ''
Evening Standard
The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
''Melanie Newman "UEL suspends 'Mr Mayhem' and cancels alternative G20" ''Times Higher Education'', 2 April 2009 (and the '' PM'' programme) led the Corporate Management Team at the University of East London to charge him with 'advocating violence' and 'bringing the university into disrepute'. In particular, he had said that his group would impose the switching off of lights during
Earth Hour
Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature, World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The event is held annually, encouraging the individuals, communities, and businesses to give an hour for Earth, and additionally marked ...
by force, if need be. He was suspended and, despite a petition signed by over 700 academics and others, 'summarily dismissed' on 22 July 2009.
On 28 April 2011, Knight was one of three people arrested "on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance and breach of the peace". The three were planning a mock execution of the Duke of York (Prince Andrew) in Central London the following day, to coincide with the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. All three were later released without charge.
On 30 November 2011, Knight was one of 21 ' Occupy London' activists arrested and later charged with public order offences for occupying the Haymarket (Central London) offices of the mining company
Xstrata
Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
in a protest against the company's diversion of the McArthur River in the Northern Territory of Australia, violating sites held sacred by the Yanyuwa, Mara, Garrawa and Gurdanjitraditional owners of the region. On 8 August 2012, following a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Knight and his co-defendants were all found not guilty.
In 2017, Knight supported
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...
in a controversy over allegedly anti-Semitic remarks made by the former London Mayor in 2016.
Family background
Knight was born in 1942 in
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
, Suffolk, where his mother Nora Dalton (born 1922, daughter of Philip Dalton and Nora Hennessy) had been serving in the Land Army. His father, Denis Knight, was born in 1921 in Volos, Greece, while Denis' own father, W. L. C. Knight, was serving as Consul General in Salonika. William Lowry Craig Knight was born in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone in 1889 and educated in the Royal School, Dungannon and Pembroke College, Cambridge. British Consul-General in Tunis, 1937–40; Basra, 1942–46; Athens, 1946 and Salonica, 1946–49, W. L. C. Knight is today perhaps best known as the author of a Foreign Office memorandum which, in 1941, recommended the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece. From 1 September 1941 to 10 January 1947, Denis served in the 44th Royal Tank Regiment as a tank co-driver. He stayed with the same crew in C Squadron throughout, first joining them in Egypt and Palestine in 1942. His first frontline action was in July 1943 as part of Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, with especially heavy fighting south of Catania at Primasole Bridge. He continued to be in the thick of it in late 1943 as the Eighth Army pressed up from the heel of Italy along the Adriatic coast. In early 1944 the 44th RTR returned to the UK to prepare for the invasion of Normandy, landing on Gold Beach on D-Day +2. Once again they were in the heart of the action around Caen and Falaise, then through northern France and into Holland where they were a vital part of Operation Market Garden, protecting the land corridor to Arnhem. Their final campaign was the invasion of Germany itself, crossing the Rhine at Xanten on 24 March 1945 – the first British tanks to do so. They continued to face stiff opposition from diehard Nazi troops as they took Bremen, and then on to Hamburg, when hostilities ceased on 5 May 1945. Denis and his tank crew were fortunate to survive – many of their comrades did not. In later life, Denis achieved recognition as a significant war-poet, while in 1986 he published an edited collection of essays by William Cobbett.Cobbett in Ireland: A Warning to England obbett's writings edited by Denis Knight Nora and Denis remained together for life and had five children (Christopher, Kevin, Elizabeth, Peter and Simon). When he was 30, Chris formed a long-term relationship with Ann Bliss. The couple have three children (Rosie, Olivia and Jude) and eight grandchildren.