Roger Martin Keesing (16 May 1935 – 7 May 1993) was an American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and

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 ...

, most notable for his

fieldwork Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...

on the

Kwaio Kwaio is an ethnic group found in central Malaita, in the Solomon Islands. According to Ethnologue, they numbered 13,249 in 1999. Much of what is known about the Kwaio is due to the work of the anthropologist Roger M. Keesing, who lived among them ...

people of

Malaita Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the se ...

in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, and his writings on a wide range of topics including

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

cognitive Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

anthropology and

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

. Keesing was a major contributor to anthropology.Lewis, Herbert S. (1998)
The Misrepresentation of Anthropology and its Consequences
' ''

American Anthropologist ''American Anthropologist'' is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 m ...

'' 100:" 716-731

Biography

He was born 16 May 1935, to antropplogists Felix M. Keesing and Marie Margaret Martin Keesing, also an anthropologist of the Pacific. Keesing studied at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

and began work in 1965 at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

. In 1974 he became a professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, heading the Department of Anthropology from 1976. In 1990, he moved to

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In 1974. he wrote a famous article, one of around a hundred published over the course of his career, defining and specifying a view of

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

inspired by linguistics and Marxian thinking. He also wrote several books, and is perhaps best known among students of anthropology as the author of ''Cultural Anthropology: A Contemporary Perspective'', regarded as one of the most authoritative general introductory works on the subject.Maranda, Pierre (1993)
In Memoriam Roger M, Keesing (1935-1993) Journal de la Société des océanistes. Année 1993. Volume 97. Numéro 2. pp. 223-224
'

' Je signale, enre autres, son Cultural Anthropology : A Contemporary Perspective (1976, 2e édition 1981) qui a non seulement servi à former nombre d'étudiants de façon magistrale mais a aussi orienté une nouvelle réflexion sur l'anthropologie culturelle. This was based on a book originally authored by his father, and was extensively revised by Keesing over the course of many years, beginning with an updated edition of the original in 1971, and continuing with a full rewrite in 1976, revised further in 1981. Since Keesing's death this task was taken up by Andrew Strathern, and the book remains popular. In 1989, Keesing worked closely with the author to translate Jonathan Fifi'i's autobiography, ''From Pig-Theft to Parliament: My Life between Two Worlds'', which chronicled his life from his poor Kwaio origins through to the

Maasina Ruru Maasina Ruru was an emancipation movement for self-government and self-determination in the British Solomon Islands during and after World War II, 1945–1950, credited with creating the movement towards independence for the Solomon Islands. The ...

movement and onto his career as a politician. Keesing died suddenly of a heart attack at the Canadian Anthropology Society dance and reception on 7 May 1993, and his ashes were transferred to the Solomon Islands, where the families of his Kwaio associates accord him the status of an ''andalo'' or ancestral spirit.

Partial bibliography

* ''Kwaio descent groups''. University of California, 1966. * ''New Perspectives in Cultural Anthropology''. Holt, Rineheart and Winston, 1971 (co-authored with Felix M. Keesing). . * ''Paradigms lost: The new ethnography and the new linguistics''. Bobbs-Merrill, 1972. * ''Kin Groups and Social Structure''. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975. Rpt. Thomson Learning, 1985. . * ''Kwaio dictionary''. Australian National University, 1975. . * ''Explorations in role analysis''. P. De Ridder, 1975. * ''Cultural Anthropology: A Contemporary Perspective''. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. 2nd ed. CBS College Publishing, 1981. . 3rd ed. Wadsworth, 1997 (edited by Andrew Strathern). . * ''Elota's Story: The Life and Times of a Solomon Islands Big Man''. St. Martin's Press; University of Queensland Press, 1978. Rpt. Thomson Learning, 1983. . * ''Lightning Meets the West Wind: Malaita Massacre''. OUP Australia and New Zealand, 1980 (co-authored with Peter Corris). . * ''Kwaio Religion''. Columbia University Press, 1982. . * ''Melanesian Pidgin and the Oceanic Substrate''. Stanford University Press, 1988. . * ''Custom and Confrontation: Kwaio Struggle for Cultural Autonomy''. University of Chicago Press, 1992. (hardcover). (paperback).

References and notes

"Keesing, Roger Martin (1935–1993)"
''Anthrobase Online Dictionary of Anthropology''. Retrieved 10 March 2005. * Otto, Ton (1993)

''Oceania Newsletter''.

External links

MSS 427
Special Collections & Archives
UC San Diego Library.
Roger M. Keesing Photographs
UC San Diego Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Keesing, Roger 1935 births 1993 deaths Harvard University alumni Stanford University alumni University of California, Santa Cruz faculty Kwaio Academic staff of McGill University 20th-century American anthropologists