Robert John Smith (1927–2016) was an American anthropologist who taught at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, specializing in the anthropology of Japan. In 1974, he was named Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology. The Japanese government bestowed the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

on him in 1993. He was president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1988. He retired in 1997.

Education and career

Smith left college in 1944 to join the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, where he began the study of the Japanese language. After the war, he graduated from

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1949, proceeding to Cornell for graduate work. He finished his PhD in 1955, and joined the Department of Anthropology, where he taught until retirement. He was chair of the department for nine years, from 1967, and chair of the Department of Asian Studies for five years.

Selected works

*Robert J. Smith, ''The Japanese and Their Descendants in Brazil : An Annotated Bibliography'' (São Paulo, Brasil: Centro de Estudos Nipo-Brasileiros, 1967) *Robert J. Smith, ''Ancestor Worship in Contemporary Japan'' (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1974) *Robert J. Smith, Kurusu : ''The Price of Progress in a Japanese Village, 1951–1975'' (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1978) *Robert J. Smith, and Ella Lury Wiswell, ''The Women of Suye Mura'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982) * *Robert J. Smith, ''Japanese Society : Tradition, Self, and the Social Order'' (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1994)

References

Smith, Robert J. (Robert John) 1927–2016)

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Authority Page. *

Notes

External links

Robert J. Smith Papers, 1950–2005
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Cornell University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Robert J. 1927 births 2016 deaths University of Minnesota alumni Cornell University alumni Cornell University faculty American anthropologists American Japanologists Anthropology educators