Ian Keen (born 21 November 1938) is an Australian
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 ...
, whose research interests cover
Yolngu kinship structures and religion,
Aboriginal land rights
Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...
and economies, and language.
Life
Keen was born in the northern London borough of
Finchley
Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross.
Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...
in late 1938, and spent his early years under the
Blitz
Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to:
Military uses
*Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign
*The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War
*, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...
during World War II, during which his father, a former grocer, served in the
Signal corps. He left school at 16 before finishing his
secondary school education, and was trained in
stained glass craftsmanship and lithography at
Hornsey School of Art
Hornsey College of Art (a.k.a. Hornsey School of Art) was a college in Crouch End in the London Borough of Haringey, England. The HCA was "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design ...
. He practiced his trade, primarily as an
art restorer
The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property, cultural property (tangible cultural heritage), including Collection (artwork), artworks, Architectural conservation, architecture, Archae ...
, in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
for a decade. In the late 1960s he decided he preferred a different career direction, completed his secondary schooling, and, in 1970, enrolled in a course of
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
, studying under
Mary Douglas
Dame Mary Douglas, (25 March 1921 – 16 May 2007) was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism, whose area of speciality was social anthropology. Douglas was considered a follower of Émile Durkhei ...
. He graduated with a
B.Sc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in 1973. During his undergraduate years, he undertook some fieldwork in the
Jura. His initial intention was to pursue work in the field of
Oceania studies
Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million as of ...
, possibly in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
.
Just at that time,
Derek Freeman
John Derek Freeman (15 August 1916 – 6 July 2001) was a New Zealand anthropologist knownTuzin, page 1013. for #Freeman_vs._Mead:_A_self_described_heresy, his criticism of Margaret Mead's work on Samoan society, as described in her 1928 ethno ...
had delegated Nicolas Peterson to organize a post-graduate research scholarship for work on
Aboriginal religion as evinced in song symbolism among men in northern Australia, particularly in
Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
. Keen proved successful in his application, and he began his fieldwork by setting up camp at
Milingimbi
Milingimbi Island, also Yurruwi, is the largest island of the Crocodile Islands group off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.
Location
Milingimbi lies approximately east of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and west of N ...
in September 1974, where he stayed for 14 months, and followed it up with a 10-month stint at Nanggalala on the mainland. He learnt
Djambarrpuyŋu
Dhuwal (also Dual, Duala) is one of the Yolŋu languages spoken by Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory, Australia. Although all Yolŋu languages are mutually intelligible to some extent, Dhuwal represents a distinct dialect continu ...
at Milingimbi while focusing his research on the nexus between kinship, social organisation and religious rituals. Particularly with regard to ceremonial rites, his first year of intense fieldwork on the island yielded a rich harvest of over 100 hours of recordings of mortuary song cycles. Before returning to Canberra, he spent a month at Oenpelli (present day
Gunbalanya
Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli) is an Aboriginal Australian town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunwi ...
) assisting the
Northern Land Council
The Northern Land Council (NLC) is a land council representing the Aboriginal peoples of the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia, with its head office in Darwin.
While the NLC was established in 1974, its origins began in the strugg ...
in mapping out the aboriginal landscape in order to prepare an indigenous report perspective for the
Fox Inquiry on uranium mining in the area. This marked the beginning of many contributions Keen would make in subsequent years to the cause of Aboriginal land rights.
Keen completed his doctoral dissertation, ''One Ceremony, One Song'', in 1978, and obtained his PhD the following year. He took up a teaching appointment at the
University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = B ...
and, after several years, returned to the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
for a post as senior lecturer in 1987. The following year he edited a volume of essays ''Being Black''(1988) whose quality Nicolas Peterson, writing in 2015, stated was "yet to be surpassed".
He spent the academic year 1992–1993 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 ...
and, in 2000, was a visiting professor at the
National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka. Keen retired to
Harold's Cross
Harold's Cross () is an affluent urban village and inner suburb on the south side of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district D6W. The River Poddle runs through it, though largely in an underground culvert, and it holds a major cemetery, Mount ...
in 2002 but continues to be active in the field.
Evaluations
While one reviewer of his 1994 monograph ''Knowledge and Secrecy in an Aboriginal Religion,'' had the impression Keen's approach echoed that of
Meyer Fortes
Meyer Fortes FBA FRAI (25 April 1906 – 27 January 1983) was a South African-born anthropologist, best known for his work among the Tallensi and Ashanti in Ghana.
Originally trained in psychology, Fortes employed the notion of the "person ...
, for P. G. Toner, Keen's work creatively took on board elements of the
heterodox
In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , "other, another, different" + , "popular belief") means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". Under this definition, heterodoxy is similar to unorthodoxy, w ...
approach in Australian anthropology associated with the name of
Les Hiatt
Lester Richard Hiatt (1931–14 February 2008), known as Les Hiatt, was a scholar of Australian Aboriginal societies who promoted Australian Aboriginal studies within both the academic world and within the wider public for almost 50 years. He is n ...
.
Bibliography
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* (evaluates
Bruce Pascoe
Bruce Pascoe (born 1947) is an Aboriginal Australian writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children's literature. As well as his own name, Pascoe has written under the pen names Murray Gray and Leopold Glass. Since August 2 ...
's book ''
Dark Emu
''Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?'' is a 2014 non-fiction book by Bruce Pascoe. It reexamines colonial accounts of Aboriginal people in Australia, and cites evidence of pre-colonial agriculture, engineering and building constr ...
'')
Notes
Citations
Sources
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External links
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Profile Australian National University
Publications Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keen, Ian
1938 births
Living people
Australian anthropologists
British anthropologists
Alumni of University College London
University of Queensland faculty
Australian National University faculty