Daniel Nugent (1954-1997) was an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

and professor at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. His most notable works include ''Everyday Forms of State Formation'', a co-edited collection of essays about

state formation State formation is the process of the development of a centralized government structure in a situation where one did not exist prior to its development. State formation has been a study of many disciplines of the social sciences for a number of ...

in modern Mexico and ''Rural Revolt in Mexico: U.S. Intervention and the Domain of Subaltern Politics'', an edited collection of essays about

subaltern Subaltern may refer to: *Subaltern (postcolonialism), colonial populations who are outside the hierarchy of power * Subaltern (military), a primarily British and Commonwealth military term for a junior officer * Subalternation, going from a univer ...

politics in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Nugent was also a playwright, and he co-wrote the play ''13 Days/Los Trece Dias: The Zapista Uprising in Chiapas'' which toured nationally from 1996 to 1997. He died in

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

at the age of 43.

Education

Nugent attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

for undergrad, where he befriended future historians such as

Paul Gootenberg Paul Eliot Gootenberg is a historian of Latin America who specializes in the history of the Andean drug trade, the fields of Peruvian and Mexican history, as well as historical sociology. He earned an M.Phil. from the University of Oxford (1981) a ...

. After a brief period where he studied at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, he returned to the University of Chicago to obtain his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

under the guidance of radical anthropologists Terry Turner and

John Comaroff John L. Comaroff (born 1 January 1945) is Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology, Oppenheimer Fellow in African Studies at Harvard University. He is recognised for his study of African and African-American soci ...

. His work was heavily influenced by

Friedrich Katz Friedrich Katz (13 June 1927 – 16 October 2010) was an Austrian-born anthropologist and historian who specialized in 19th and 20th century history of Latin America, particularly, in the Mexican Revolution. "He was arguably Mexico's most wide ...

Career

Nugent began his academic career at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where he directed the Mexican Center at the Institute of Latin American Studies for two years. In 1990, he moved to the

as an assistant professor of anthropology. By 1991, he was elected as a fellow of the

American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, ...

. While at the University of Arizona, he wrote ''Spent Cartridges of Revolution,'' edited ''Rural Revolt in Mexico and U.S. Intervention,'' and served as an editor of the

Journal of Historical Sociology This peer-reviewed journal is edited by an international panel of historians, anthropologists, geographers and sociologists, the ''Journal of Historical Sociology'' is both interdisciplinary in approach and innovative in content. The ''Journal ...

. He was also involved with the Political theatre movement, including with the

San Francisco Mime Troupe The San Francisco Mime Troupe is a theatre of political satire which performs free shows in various parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and around California. The Troupe does not, however, perform silent mime, but each year creates an original ...

and the Borderlands Theater. He co-wrote the play ''13 Days/Los Trece Dias: The Zapista Uprising in Chiapas'' with his wife Eva Tessler.

References

20th-century American anthropologists American ethnographers Jewish American academics 1954 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American Jews {{US-anthropologist-stub