Julian Alfred Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers (16 March 1919 – 12 August 2001) was a British

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 ...

, an

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

, and a professor at universities in three countries.

Family background

Pitt-Rivers was a great-grandson of the

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Augustus Pitt Rivers Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (14 April 18274 May 1900) was an English officer in the British Army, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for innovations in archaeological methodology, and in the museum display o ...

. His father was the anthropologist and propertied

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

George Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers George Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers (22 May 1890 – 17 June 1966) was a British anthropologist and eugenicist who was one of the wealthiest men in England in the interwar period. He embraced anti-Bolshevism and anti-Semitism and became a support ...

and his mother, Mary Hinton, was an actress and daughter of the

governor-general of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.the 1st Baron Forster. His parents divorced in 1930, and through his father's second marriage (1931–1937) he gained as his stepmother Dr

Rosalind Pitt-Rivers Rosalind Venetia Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers FRS ( Henley; 4 March 1907 – 14 January 1990) was a British biochemist. She became the second president of the European Thyroid Association in 1971; she succeeded Jean Roche and was followed by Jack Gr ...

, an eminent biochemist. He had two brothers, one by each of his father's marriages. His elder brother

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

inherited their father's substantial estates, and in the 1950s was caught in a legal case which contributed to national debate. His younger half-brother Anthony was born in 1932. After the war, his father fell in love with Stella Lonsdale; she changed her name to his, but they never married. When George Pitt-Rivers died in 1966, he left much of his fortune to her.

Education and scholarship

Julian Pitt-Rivers attended

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

. Through his work as an ethnographer of empathic considerations for cultural diversity, he rebelled against his father, a

Mosleyite Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

eugenicist Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

who was interned by the British government in the early years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Pitt-Rivers received his doctorate in 1953, which was derived from his fieldwork in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, Spain, that led to his publication of the classic anthropological text '' The People of the Sierra'' in 1954. The introduction was provided by his Oxford professor,

E. E. Evans-Pritchard Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard, Kt FBA FRAI (21 September 1902 – 11 September 1973) was an English anthropologist who was instrumental in the development of social anthropology. He was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University ...

. He taught at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and 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 ...

. In addition, he taught at 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 ...

and several universities in France, including the

École Pratique des Hautes Études École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in Paris in what would later become the

École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and ''grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

Personal life

Pitt-Rivers was married three times. His first wife, whom he married on 17 August 1946, was Pauline Laetitia Tennant, daughter of actress

Hermione Baddeley Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley (13 November 1906 – 19 August 1986) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She typically played brash, vulgar characters, often referred to as "brassy" or "blowsy".Folkart, Burt, "Noted ...

and aristocrat

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

. They divorced in 1953. In 1955, he married Margarita Larios y Fernandes de Villavicencio, the former wife of Miguel, duke of Primo Rivera; they divorced in 1971. His third wife, whom he married in 1971, was

Françoise Geoffroy Françoise () is a French feminine given name (equivalent to the Italian Francesca) and may refer to: * Anne Françoise Elizabeth Lange (1772–1816), French actress * Claudine Françoise Mignot (1624–1711), French adventuress * Françoise Adn ...

, who survived him. He had no children. During his last years, he was afflicted by

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

that set in nearly five years before his death in 2001 and while he was still producing excellent work.

Publications

* Pitt-Rivers, Julian. ''The fate of Shechem:or, The politics of sex: essays in the anthropology of the Mediterranean''. Cambridge

ng. Ng, ng, or NG may refer to: * Ng (name) (黄伍吳), a surname of Chinese origin Arts and entertainment * N-Gage (disambiguation), a handheld gaming system * Naked Giants, Seattle rock band * '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a video game Businesses ...

New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977. * Pitt-Rivers, Julian, Ed., ''Mediterranean countrymen;essays in the social anthropology of the Mediterranean'', Paris: Mouton, 1963. * Pitt-Rivers, Julian Alfred, ''The people of the Sierra''. Introd. by E. E. Evans-Pritchard. New York: Criterion Books, 1954.

Family background

Education and scholarship

Personal life

Publications

Notes

Further reading