Jane I. Guyer (born 31 December 1943) is the George Armstrong Kelly Professor in the Department 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 ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

Biography

Before coming to Hopkins, Guyer taught at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. She has published extensively on

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

, on the productive economy, the

division of labor The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise (specialisation). Individuals, organizations, and nations are endowed with, or acquire specialised capabilities, and ...

, and the management of money. She was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2008 and serves on several international and national committees, including the International Advisory Group to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

and the governments of

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

on the Chad–Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project, the Lost Crops of Africa panel published by the National Academy, and the Board and Executive Committee of the

African Studies Association The African Studies Association (ASA) is a US-based association of scholars, students, practitioners, and institutions with an interest in the continent of Africa. Founded in 1957, the ASA is the leading organization of African Studies in North ...

. Her research has been celebrated for her contributions not just to empirical research but theoretical discourse on several topics.

Education

Guyer was born in Scotland and attended the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, earning a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1965. She then attended the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

, where the department focused on the British social anthropological tradition, and studied under Robert Merrill and Alfred Harris. She completed her graduate training in 1972. Her dissertation was titled ''The Organizational Plan of Traditional Farming: Idere, Western Nigeria''. Guyer earned her first teaching position at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

before she had completed her studies.

Major works

Publications

* ''Family and Farm in Southern Cameroon'', 1984. Boston University, African Studies Center. Research Study #15. * ''Feeding African Cities: Essays in Regional Social History'' (editor), 1987.

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

and the

International African Institute The International African Institute (IAI) was founded (as the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures - IIALC) in 1926 in London for the study of African languages. Frederick Lugard was the first chairman (1926 to his death in 194 ...

. * ''An African Niche Economy'', 1997. Edinburgh University Press and the International African Institute. * ''Time and African Land Use: Ethnography and Remote Sensing''. 2007. Guyer and

Eric Lambin Eric Lambin (born 23 September 1962) is a Belgian geographer. He is a professor at the Université catholique de Louvain and Stanford University. From 1999 to 2005, he was Chair of the Land Use and Land Cover Change (LUCC). In July 2019, Lambin ...

(eds.) Special issue of ''Human Ecology'', vol. 35, no. 1. * ''Money Matters: Instability, Values and Social Payments in the Modern History of West African Communities'' (editor), 1995. Heinemann. * ''Money Struggles and City Life'' (co-editor with LaRay Denzer and Adigun Agbaje), 2002. Heinemann. * ''Marginal Gains: Monetary Transactions in Atlantic Africa'', 2004.

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

. * ''Cultures of Monetarism. Collected papers and abstracts''

Exhibits

* ''To Dance the Spirit: Masks of Liberia'', 1986.

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with ...

, Harvard University. * ''Living Tradition in Africa and the Americas: The Legacy of Melville J. & Frances S. Herskovits'', 1998.

Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art The Block Museum of Art is a free public art museum located on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The Block Museum was established in 1980 when Chicago art collectors Mary (daughter of Albert Lasker) and Leigh B. Block (f ...

, Northwestern University.Exhibit guide

References

External links

Gupta, Sujata. "Profile of Jane Guyer". ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'', February 14, 2012 vol. 109 no. 7, pp. 2181–2183.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guyer, Jane I. 1943 births Living people Scottish anthropologists Scottish women anthropologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Johns Hopkins University faculty Northwestern University faculty Harvard University faculty Boston University faculty Alumni of the London School of Economics University of Rochester alumni