Ruth Hilary Finnegan (born 30 December 1933) is a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

linguistic

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 ...

and Emeritus Professor of the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

Biography

Finnegan was born in 1933 in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. She attended Londonderry High School (now

Foyle College Foyle College is a co-educational non-denominational voluntary grammar school in Derry, Northern Ireland. The school's legal name is Foyle and Londonderry College. In 1976, two local schools, Foyle College and Londonderry High School, merged unde ...

and

The Mount School, York The Mount School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom , private Quaker day and boarding school for girls ages 3–18, and a co-ed Junior School, located in York, York, England. The school was founded in 1785, and the current Head is Anna W ...

after which she studied '' Literae humaniores'' at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

and followed this with her PhD in Anthropology. Her thesis, submitted in 1963 from

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college specialising in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. N ...

, was titled "The Limba of Sierra Leone with special reference to their folktales or "oral literature"". After teaching social anthropology at the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It was opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the Univers ...

in 1963–1964 and sociology at the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public university located in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Initially founded as the University College Ibadan in 1948, it maintained its affiliation with the University of London. In 1962, it became an independe ...

in 1965–1967, Finnegan joined the Open University in 1969 as one of the founding members of academic staff. She was a lecturer in sociology there until 1972, became reader in comparative social institutes in 1982 and then professor in 1988. Finnegan was a visiting professor in anthropology at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 1989. Finnegan was elected as Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies 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 sa ...

in 1996. She received an OBE in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

for services to Social Sciences. She is an honorary fellow of

. In 2016 she received the

Rivers Memorial Medal The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

from the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

Select publications

*Finnegan, R. 2018. "Alternative consciousness", in ''International Encyclopaedia of Anthropology''. Wiley. *Finnegan, R. (ed) 2017. ''Entrancement: The Consciousness of Dreaming, Music and the World''. University of Wales Press. *Finnegan, R. 2015. ''Where is Language?: An Anthropologist's Questions on Language, Literature and Performance''. Bloomsbury. *Finnegan, R. 2014. "Play is serious: children's games, verbal art and creativity in Africa", ''International Journal of Play''. *Finnegan, R. 2012. ''Oral Literature in Africa.'' Cambridge: Open Book Publishers
open access and downloadable for free
*Finnegan, R. (ed) 2005. ''Participating in the Knowledge Society: Researchers Beyond the University Walls''. Palgrave Macmillan. *Finnegan, R. 2002. ''Communicating: The Multiple Modes of Human Interconnection''. Routledge. *Finnegan, R. 1992. ''Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance and Social Context'', 2nd edn. Bloomington IN, Indiana University Press. *Finnegan, R. 1989. ''The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town''., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. *Finnegan, R. 1970. ''Oral literature in Africa''. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finnegan, Ruth Living people Women academics from Northern Ireland 1933 births Fellows of the British Academy Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford Officers of the Order of the British Empire Scholars and academics from Derry (city) Academics of the Open University Anthropologists from Northern Ireland 21st-century British anthropologists 21st-century Irish anthropologists Linguists from the United Kingdom British women linguists Women anthropologists from Northern Ireland Scientists from Derry (city) People educated at Foyle College People educated at The Mount School, York Academic staff of the University of Ibadan