Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah (16 January 1929 – 19 January 2014) was a

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 ...

and Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor ''(Emeritus)'' of Anthropology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He specialised in studies of

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, and

Tamils The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is o ...

, as well as the

anthropology of religion Anthropology of religion is the study of religion in relation to other social institutions, and the comparison of religious beliefs and practices across cultures. The anthropology of religion, as a field, overlaps with but is distinct from the f ...

and politics.

Biography

Tambiah was born in

to a Christian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

family. He attended S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia for his primary and secondary education. After finishing his

undergraduate education Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

at the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

in 1951, he attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, graduating in 1954 with a PhD. He began teaching sociology at the University of Ceylon in 1955, where he remained until 1960. After a few years as the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Teaching Assistant for Thailand, he taught at the

University of Cambridge 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 ...

from 1963 to 1972 and 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 ...

from 1973 to 1976. He joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1976. His earliest major published work was an ethno-historical study of modern and medieval Thailand. He then became interested in the comparative study of the ways Western categories of magic, science and religion have been used by anthropologists to make sense of other cultures which do not use this three-part system. After the outbreak of civil war in Sri Lanka, he began to study the role of competing religious and ethnic identities in that country. At

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 ...

, he trained several generations of anthropologists in a number of fields. He also served on the National Research Council's Committee for International Conflict Resolution. He did field research on the Organisation of Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka (Monks, Priests and Peasants, a Study of Buddhism and Social Structure in Central Ceylon and several papers in the American Anthropologists and the Journal of Asian Studies).

Awards

In November 1997, Tambiah received the prestigious

Balzan Prize The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the b ...

for "penetrating social-anthropological analysis of the fundamental problems of ethnic violence in South East Asia and original studies on the dynamics of Buddhist societies

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

have opened the way to an innovative and rigorous social-anthropological approach to the internal dynamics of different civilizations". A month later, the

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 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 ...

awarded him its highest recognition, the Huxley Memorial Medal and Lecture. In September 1998, he was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize by the city of

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

, capital of

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

, Japan. In 2000, he became a Corresponding 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 ...

, a title given to those who have "attained high international standing" in a

discipline Discipline is the self-control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed, and the ability to keep working at something that is difficult. Disciplinarians believe that such self-control is of the utmost importance and enforce a ...

in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

Legacy and Impact

Scholars have drawn on Tambiah's work to theorize communal conflicts in many other settings, such as nineteenth-century Syria.

Selected publications

*''Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand''. Cambridge University Press, 1970. . *''World Conqueror and World Renouncer : A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand against a Historical Background'' (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology). Cambridge University Press, 1976. . *''The Buddhist Saints of the Forest and the Cult of Amulets''. Cambridge University Press, 1984.
''Form and Meaning of Magical Acts''
in "Culture, Thought, and Social Action: An Anthropological Perspective", Harvard University Press, 1985

973 Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias ( Domestic of the Schools in the East), continues the op ...

pp. 60–86.
''Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy''
Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1986.
''Magic, Science and Religion and the Scope of Rationality''
(Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures). Cambridge University Press, 1990. .
''Buddhism Betrayed? : Religion, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka''
(A Monograph of the World I''nstitute for Development Economics Research). University of Chicago Press, 1992. .
''Leveling Crowds : Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia''
(Comparative Studies in Religion and Society). University of California Press, 1996. .
''Edmund Leach: An Anthropological Life''
Cambridge University Press, 2002. .

References

External links

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, "Stanley J. Tambiah", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja 1929 births 2014 deaths American social anthropologists Cornell University alumni Anthropologists of religion Harvard University faculty Sri Lankan emigrants to the United States American people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Sri Lankan Christians Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan academics Sri Lankan Indologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Corresponding fellows of the British Academy