Professor Anthony Cohen,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

is a British social anthropologist and served as Principal &

Vice Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...

of Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University. Cohen was born in London in 1946. Educated at Whittingehame College, Brighton, the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

and the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, he is a social anthropologist with specialist interests in personal, social and national identity. He conducted fieldwork in Springdale,

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

(1968–70) on local-level politics; and in Whalsay (1973–90), the longest sustained study of a rural British community ever undertaken. He then did research on personal and national identity in Scotland, and on the literary influences on Scottishness. Anthony Cohen was a research fellow at the

Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...

; assistant professor at

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

and lecturer and senior lecturer in social anthropology at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. In 1988 he was appointed Professor of Social Anthropology at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, a post he held until 2003. He was Provost of Law and Social Sciences, and Dean of Social Sciences at Edinburgh for five years (1997—2002). In 2003, he was appointed Honorary Professor of Social Anthropology. In 2003, he became Principal and Vice-Patron of Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, and Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology. In January 2007, QMUC was awarded university title, and Professor Cohen became the founding Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen Margaret University. He was elected Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1994, and was awarded the honorary degree of D.Sc by the

in 2005, and the degree of D.Sc (honoris causa) by the University of St Andrews in 2017. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Works

* ''The Management of Myths'', 1975,

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...

* ''The Symbolic Construction of Community'', 1985, Routledge * ''Whalsay: Symbol, Segment and Boundary in a Shetland Island Community'', 1987,

* ''Self Consciousness: an Alternative Anthropology of Identity'', 1994, Routledge

As editor

* ''Symbolising Boundaries: Identity and Diversity in British Cultures'', 1986, Manchester University Press * ''Humanising the city?: Social contexts of urban life at the turn of the millennium'', 1993, Edinburgh University Press * (with Nigel Rapport) ''Questions of consciousness'', 1995, Routledge * ''Signifying Identities: Anthropological perspectives on boundaries and contested values'', 2000, Routledge

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Anthony 1946 births Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Southampton British anthropologists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Living people Academic staff of the Memorial University of Newfoundland People associated with Queen Margaret University Academics from London Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston Social anthropologists University of Geneva alumni Academics of Queen Margaret University