Adam Jonathan Kuper (born 29 December 1941) is a British social anthropologist.

Background

Kuper was the son of Simon Meyer Kuper and Gertrude Hesselson. Born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, he attended Parktown Boys' High School and took his first degree at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

. His doctorate, from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, was based on field research in the

Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African ...

in what is now

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. After graduation Kuper did further field studies in Botswana, and Jamaica, and taught at Universities in Uganda, Britain, Holland, Sweden and the United States. The sociologist Leo Kuper and anthropologist Hilda Kuper were his uncle and aunt. He married Jessica Cohen (1944-2013) of Johannesburg in 1966 and taught from 1967 to 1970 at

Makerere University Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

. From 1970 to 1976 he taught at

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 ...

. From 1976 to 1985 he was professor of African anthropology at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. From 1985 to 2008 he was a professor at

Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...

, where he was the first head of the Department of Human Sciences, and latterly head of the Anthropology Department. In 2000 and in 2007 he was, respectively, awarded the

Rivers Memorial Medal The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

and the Huxley Memorial Medal of the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

. Kuper was the first president of the European Association of Social Anthropology. He was a visiting professor at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, 2011–14, and a Centennial Professor,

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, from 2013-14 where he still holds a visiting appointment. He has lived in

Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, London, Highgate, Hampstead Garden ...

for over 40 years.

Research

In the early 1970s Kuper did fieldwork in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, on attachment to the National Planning Agency in the Office of the Prime Minister. However his main ethnographic focus continued to be the societies of Southern Africa, on which he has published several books. In 1973 he published a history of British social anthropology, and since then he has continued to study and publish on the intellectual history of anthropology, including critical studies on the idea of "primitive society" and of "culture", and on the development of museums of anthropology. He was awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Grant for two years (2003-5) which allowed him to spend more time on research. The topic was cousin marriage and incest in nineteenth century England. He has supervised many

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

students on Southern African ethnography, history of anthropology, family business, and kinship.

Retirement dispute

In January 2009 it was revealed that Brunel had reneged on an agreement to let him stay until 2010. Instead, he was forcibly retired in late 2008, just after the census date for publications submitted to the

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils ( HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British ...

had passed. Kuper responded by suing the university for breach of contract. In 2011, employment laws were changed to permit phased retirements past the age of 65. This was because of changes to the 2006 Employment (Age) Regulations making mandatory retirement imposed by the employer unlawful.

Selected publications

*''Wives for Cattle: Bridewealth and Marriage in Southern Africa'', (Routledge, 1982) *''The Invention of primitive society: Transformations of an Illusion'', (Routledge, 1988) *''The Chosen Primate: Human Nature and Cultural Diversity'', (Harvard University Press, 1994) *''Anthropology and Anthropologists: The Modern British School'', (Routledge, 3rd edn, 1996) *''The Social Science Encyclopaedia'' Adam Kuper, Jessica Kuper (eds.). (Taylor & Francis, 1996) *''Culture: The Anthropologists' Account'', (Harvard University Press, 1999)
''Incest and Influence: The Private Life of Bourgeois England''
(Harvard, 2009, ) *''The Museum of Other People. From Colonial Acquisitions to Cosmopolitan Exhibitions'', (Profile Books, 2023, )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuper, Adam Jonathan 1941 births Living people Anthropology educators Anthropology writers Social anthropologists South African anthropologists South African science writers Academics of Brunel University London Academic staff of Leiden University Academics of University College London People from Johannesburg University of the Witwatersrand alumni Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Alumni of Parktown Boys' High School