Reo Franklin Fortune (27 March 1903 – 25 November 1979) was a New Zealand-born
social anthropologist
Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...
. Originally trained as a psychologist, Fortune was a student of some of the major theorists of British and American social anthropology including
Alfred Cort Haddon
Alfred Cort Haddon, Sc.D., FRS, FRGS FRAI (24 May 1855 – 20 April 1940) was an influential British anthropologist and ethnologist.
Initially a biologist, who achieved his most notable fieldwork, with W. H. R. Rivers, Charles Gabriel Selig ...
,
Bronislaw Malinowski and
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism. He conducted fieldwork in the Andam ...
.
[Thomas, Caroline (2009) "Rediscovering Reo: Reflections on the life and anthropological career of Reo Franklin Fortune," ''Pacific Studies'', vol. 32, nos. 2/3; June–Sept] He lived an international life, holding various academic and government positions: in China, at Lingnan University from 1937 to 1939; in Toledo, Ohio, USA from 1940 to 1941; at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
, from 1941 to 1943; in Burma, as government anthropologist, from 1946 to 1947;
and finally, at
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 the United Kingdom from 1947 to 1971, as lecturer in social anthropology specialising in
Melanesian language and culture.
[Gray, Geoffrey "Being honest to my science: Reo Fortune and JHP Murray, 1927–1930", ''The Australian Journal of Anthropology'', vol. 10 (1), 1999, pp. 56–76]
He was first married to
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s.
She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Col ...
in 1928, with whom he undertook field studies in
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
from 1931 to 1933. They divorced in 1935. Fortune subsequently married Eileen Pope, also a New Zealander, in 1937.
Fortune provided significant insights into the consequences of
matrilateral
The term ''matrilateral'' describes kin (relatives) "on the mother's side".
Social anthropologists have underlined that even where a social group demonstrates a strong emphasis on one or other line of inheritance (matrilineal or patrilineal), r ...
and patrilateral cross-cousin marriage in advance of work by
Claude Levi-Strauss Claude may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Claude (surname), a list of people
* Claude Callegari (1962–2021), English Arsenal supporter
* Claude Debussy (1862–1918), ...
. He is also known for his contribution to mathematics with his study of
Fortunate numbers in
number theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...
.
The 2014 novel ''Euphoria'' by
Lily King is a fictionalized account of the relationships between Fortune, Mead and
Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropology, anthropologist, social sciences, social scientist, linguistics, linguist, visual anthropology, visual anthropologist, semiotics, semiotician, and cybernetics, cybernetici ...
in pre-WWII New Guinea.
Selected publications
*1927, ''The Mind in Sleep''. Kegan Paul.
*1932,
Sorcerers of Dobu'. Routledge.
*1932, ''Omaha Secret Societies''. Columbia University Press.
*1933, ''A note on some forms of kinship structure''. Oceania, 4(1), 1–9.
*1935, ''Manus Religion, An ethnological study of the Manus natives of the Admiralty Islands''. American Philosophical Press.
*1942,
Arapesh'. American Ethnological Society Publication 19; 237 pages.
Photographs
Many of the easily accessible images of Fortune include his one-time wife Margaret Mead, who was known for her interest in photography as an ethnographic method.
The National Library of New Zealand () holds a large collection of family and fieldwork photos of Reo and Eileen Fortune's lives in China, North America, and England.
In 1959 and again in 1970–71, Fortune revisited Dobu, the island community he made famous in his 1932 book, ''The Sorcerers of Dobu''.
Object 63983 Detail , Te Reo Maori , Manuscripts & Pictorial , National Library of New Zealand
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References
Further reading
*"Reo FORTUNE (1903–1979)." ''Canberra Anthropology'', 3:105–108.
*Abrahams, R. and H. Wardle. 2002. "Fortune's Last Theorem", ''Cambridge Anthropology'' 23:1, 60–2
*Bashkow, Ira and Lise M. Dobrin. 2013. "Reo Fortune." In R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms (eds.), ''Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia'', pp. 272–274. Sage Publications.
* Dobrin, Lise M. and Ira Bashkow. 2010.
The Truth in Anthropology Does Not Travel First Class: Reo Fortune's Fateful Encounter with Margaret Mead
" In Regna Darnell and Frederic W. Gleach (eds.), ''Histories of Anthropology Annual'', vol. 6, ed. 66–128. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
* Dobrin, Lise M. and Ira Bashkow. 2010.
'Arapesh Warfare': Reo Fortune's Veiled Critique of Margaret Mead's Sex and Temperament.
''American Anthropologist'' 112(3):370–383.
* Bashkow, Ira and Lise M. Dobrin. 2007.
The Historical Study of Ethnographic Fieldwork: Margaret Mead and Reo Fortune among the Mountain Arapesh
" ''History of Anthropology Newsletter'', vol. 34(1), pp. 9–16.
* Bashkow, Ira and Lise Dobrin, 2018
« Un Boasien inattendu : biographie de Reo Fortune, ethnographe culturaliste devenu un excentrique amer »
in Bérose, encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l’anthropologie
* Dobrin, Lise M. and Ira Bashkow. 2006.
" In Regna Darnell and Frederic W. Gleach (eds.), ''Histories of Anthropology Annual'', vol. 2, pp. 123–154. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
* Gray, Geoffrey.
Being honest to my science: Reo Fortune and JHP Murray, 1927–1930
" ''The Australian Journal of Anthropology'', vol. 10 (1), 1999, pp. 56–76.
* Lohman, Roger. 2009.
Dreams of Fortune: Reo Fortune's Psychological Theory of Cultural Ambivalence
" ''Pacific Studies'', vol. 32, nos. 2/3—June/September
* Roscoe, Paul. 2003.
Margaret Mead, Reo Fortune, and Mountain Arapesh Warfare
" ''American Anthropologist'' 105(3):581–591.
* Thomas, Caroline. 2009.
Rediscovering Reo: Reflections on the life and anthropological career of Reo Franklin Fortune
" ''Pacific Studies'', vol. 32, nos. 2/3; June–September
* Thomas, Caroline. 2011. ''The Sorcerers' Apprentice: A life of Reo Franklin Fortune, Anthropologist.'' PhD thesis, University of Waikato.
External links
* Resources related to research
BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology
Paris, 2018. (ISSN 2648-2770)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune, Reo
1903 births
1979 deaths
New Zealand anthropologists
Place of birth missing
Academics of the University of Cambridge
20th-century anthropologists