Ronald Godfrey Lienhardt (17 January 1921 – 9 November 1993) was a British

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

. He took many photographs of the

Dinka people The Dinka people () are a Nilotes, Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Mangalla-Bor to Renk, South Sudan, Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal (region of South Sudan), Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nil ...

he studied. He wrote about their religion in ''Divinity and Experience: the Religion of the Dinka''.

Life and field work

Born in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, of mixed

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

parentage,Douglas H.Johnso
Obituary: Godfrey Lienhardt
''The Independent'', 17 November 1993 he went to

Cambridge University 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 ...

in 1939, where he read English at

Downing College Downing College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, ...

under

F. R. Leavis Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis ( ; 14 July 1895 – 14 April 1978) was an English literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for much of his career at Downing College, Cambridge, and later at the University of York. Leav ...

until he was called up and became a transport officer, stationed in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. He was followed in 1946 to Downing by his brother

Peter Lienhardt Peter Arnold Lienhardt (12 March 1928 – 17 March 1986) was a British social anthropologist. Life Lienhardt was born in Bradford on 12 March 1928Ahmed Al-Shahi, "Peter Lienhardt 1928-1986: Biographical Notes and Bibliography", ''JASO'' (Journal ...

, who also read English and became an anthropologist. After returning to civilian life, Godfrey's academic interests were redirected to

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

by an encounter with Edward Evans-Pritchard, under whom he subsequently studied at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. His chosen field of research were the

Dinka The Dinka people () are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Mangalla-Bor to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile (two out of three provinces that were formerly part of southern ...

of southern

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, a people closely related to the Nuer studied by his mentor, (1947–50) and the Anuak (1952-1954). His work on the former, culminating in ''Divinity and Experience: the Religion of the Dinka,'' is regarded as unsurpassed as a study of African religion. His central, ultimately Durkheimian premise here is that religion is not reducible to a matter of beliefs and practices, but rather to a complex set of natural and social practices. His methodology shows an acute sensitivity to the dangers of translating key words in an indigenous lexicon concerning belief and religion, for example, into Western languages. Sudan drifted into a civil war, and many of the native people he had got to know were swept up in the chronic violence of the area, Lienhardt found writing about his field increasingly difficult, particularly since he found himself at odds with the rising vogue for theory in anthropology, which overtook the practice of ethnological description. The dilemma he faced in struggling with expectations that he should replace Evans-Pritchard in the chair of anthropology at Oxford informed

Dan Davin Daniel Marcus Davin (1 September 1913 – 28 September 1990), generally known as Dan Davin, was an author who wrote about New Zealand, although for most of his career he lived in Oxford, England, working for Oxford University Press. The themes o ...

's novel ''Brides of Price'' (1972). He died, aged 72, of complications from pneumonia.

Honours

In 1988, Lienhardt was presented with a

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

: it was titled "Vernacular Christianity: essays in the social anthropology of religion presented to Godfrey Lienhardt" and was edited by

Wendy James Wendy Patricia James (born 21 January 1966) is an English singer-songwriter most notable for her work with the pop rock band Transvision Vamp, collaboration with Elvis Costello, solo work with musicians such as James Williamson from Iggy & the ...

and Douglas H. Johnson.

Bibliography

*
Divinity and experience: The religion of the Dinka
'' Oxford University Press, 1961 *''Social anthropology,'' Oxford University Press, 1964 *T. M. S. Evens, 'Contradiction and Choice among the Dinka and in Genesis,' in his ''Anthropology as ethics: nondualism and the conduct of sacrifice'', Berghahn Books, 2008 *Peter Rivière, 'Lienhardt, (Ronald) Godfrey (1921–1993)',

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

September 2004. *

Mary Douglas Dame Mary Douglas, (25 March 1921 – 16 May 2007) was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture, symbolism and risk, whose area of speciality was social anthropology. Douglas was considered a follower of Émile Durkhei ...

, 'Obituary:Godfrey Lienhardt,' in Anthropology Today, 10, 1, 1994, reprinted in Mary Douglas, ''Implicit meanings: selected essays in anthropology,'' in ''Mary Douglas:Collected Works'', Routledge, 2002, vol.5, pp. 188–198 *Douglas H.Johnson, 'Obituary: Godfrey Lienhardt', in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

17 November 1993 *An excerpt from ''Divinity and Experience'' was included in the

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

anthology Rules and Meanings (1973).

References

External links

The Frazer Lecture on the legacy of J.G.Frazer, given in Cambridge on 5 March 1992 (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lienhardt, Godfrey 1921 births 1993 deaths Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge English people of Swiss descent Writers from Bradford British social anthropologists 20th-century British anthropologists