Johannes Fabian (born 19 May 1937) is an emeritus professor of

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 ...

at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. His ethnographic and historical research focuses on religious movements, language, work, and popular culture in the Shaba mining region of

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

(present-day

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

). His theoretical and critical work addresses questions of epistemology and history in anthropology, notably the influential book ''Time and the Other'' (1983), which has become a classic in the field of anthropology. Johannes Fabian was born in the

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town of Glogau (which is now in

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). He began his university studies in

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in 1956, and then moved on St. Gabriel Mission House in

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to study theology. His experiences in Austria led him to study anthropology in

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, before undertaking a master's degree (1965) and PhD (1969) at 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 ...

. After receiving his PhD, he took up appointments at a series of universities: in 1968 at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in Evanston,

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; in 1973 at the University of Zaire; in 1974 at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in Middletown,

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; and finally moved to the

in 1980, where he was a professor and chair of the department of cultural anthropology until his retirement in 2002. During this time he had visiting appointments in Bonn,

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, and

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. His ethnographic research focuses on religious movements in

and Congo. Fabian is most famous for his book ''Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object'' (1983), a classic in the field of anthropology that had changed the way that anthropologists think about their relationship with the people they study and is an important work of postcolonial critique within anthropology. As the blurbs on the book put it, the book is "a radical epistemological critique of anthropological writing" ( George Marcus,

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

) and "Time and the Other is a critique of the notions that anthropologists are 'here and now,' their objects of study are 'there and then,' and that the 'other' exists in a time not contemporary with our own." His 1996 work, ''Remembering the Present: Paintings and popular history in Zaire'' was made in collaboration with the Congolese artist Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu.

Writings

* ''!Kung bushman kinship : Componential analysis and alternative interpretations'' (1965) * ''Genres in an emerging tradition: An anthropological approach to religious communication'' (1974) * ''Scratching the surface: Observations on the poetics of lexical borrowing in Shaba Swahili'' (1982) * ''Swahili on the road: Notes on language in two nineteenth century travelogues'' (1983) * ''Time and the Other: How anthropology makes its object'' (1983) * ''Power and performance: Ethnographic explorations through proverbial wisdom and theater in Shaba, Zaire'' (1990) * ''Remembering the Present: Painting and Popular History in Zaire'' (1996) * ''Memory against culture: Arguments and Reminders'' (2007) * ''Ethnography as commentary: writing from the virtual archive'' (2008)

References

1937 births Living people 20th-century German anthropologists University of Chicago alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam People from Głogów ASA Best Book Prize winners 21st-century German anthropologists {{Netherlands-academic-bio-stub