Michael Barnes Carrithers, FBA (born 1945) is an anthropologist and academic. Since 1992, he has been Professor of Anthropology at Durham University.

Career

Born in 1945, Michael Barnes Carrithers graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

in 1967 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree, and went on to complete a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

degree there four years later. He was awarded a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

by the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

in 1978 for his

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...

entitled "The forest-dwelling monks of Lanka: an historical and anthropological study". After lecturing at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

and Oxford, he joined the staff at Durham University in 1982 as a lecturer in anthropology; he was promoted to senior lecturer in 1987, reader in 1989 and professor of anthropology in 1992."The forest-dwelling monks of Lanka : an historical and anthropological study"
''SOLO: Bodleian Library Catalogue''. Retrieved 30 June 2018. According to his

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

profile, Carrithers's research focuses on "The

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

;

Jains Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

; German commemoration of the Twentieth Century; reasoning and cogency in anthropology; rhetoric culture theory; ndethnography as a source of philosophy"."Professor Michael Carrithers"
''British Academy''. Retrieved 30 June 2018.

Awards and honours

In 2015, Carrithers was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

, the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the hum ...

for the humanities and social sciences.

Selected publications

*''The Forest Monks of Sri Lanka: An Anthropological and Historical Study'' (Oxford University Press, 1983). *''The Buddha'', Past Masters series (Oxford University Press, 1983). * (Co-edited with Steven Collins and

Steven Lukes Steven Michael Lukes (born 1941) is a British political and social theorist. Currently he is a professor of politics and sociology at New York University. He was formerly a professor at the University of Siena, the European University Institut ...

) ''The Category of the Person: Anthropology, Philosophy, History'' (Cambridge University Press, 1985). *''Founders of Faith'' (Oxford University Press, 1986). * (Co-edited with

Caroline Humphrey Caroline Humphrey, Baroness Rees of Ludlow, (''née'' Waddington; born 1 September 1943) is a British anthropologist and academic. Biography Humphrey's father was the biologist Conrad H. Waddington. Her mother was her father's second wife, ar ...

) ''The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society'' (Cambridge University Press, 1991). *''Why Humans have Cultures: Explaining Anthropology and Social Diversity'' (Oxford University Press, 1992). *''The Buddha: A Very Short Introduction'' (Oxford University Press, 2001). * (Editor) ''Culture, Rhetoric and the Vicissitudes of Life'', vol. 2, Studies in Rhetoric and Culture series (Berghahn Books, 2009).

References

External links

University of Durham profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrithers, Michael 1945 births Living people Fellows of the British Academy