Sjoerd Hofstra (
Idsegahuizum
Idsegahuizum ( fry, Skuzum) is a village in Súdwest-Fryslân in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 220 in January 2017.
History
The village was first mentioned in the 13th century as Ytzinghahusum, and mean ...
, 21 January, 1898 –
Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thou ...
, 14 April 1983) was a
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
sociologist and
anthropologist, best known as the first Dutch person to conduct
ethnographic
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 ...
fieldwork in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, where he lived among the
Mende in
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
.
Hofstra was an
Animal welfare, animal protection advocate.
Early life and journalism
Hofstra was born in
Friesland
Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...
in 1898, the second youngest of three siblings, to parents Pier Hofstra – a carpenter – and Janneke Visser.
Prior to his academic career, Hofstra initially forayed into journalism, working for two Dutch local newspapers; the
Hepkema's Courant/Nieuwsblad van Friesland (Dutch) and
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden
The ''Nieuwsblad van het Noorden'' (; "Newspaper of the North") is a former regional daily newspaper from the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. It was published from 1888 to 2002, when it was merged with the '' Groninger Dagblad'' and the ...
.
Study and work
![SierraLeoneHofstra7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/SierraLeoneHofstra7.5.jpg)
With the assistance of a benefactor, Hofstra studied
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
and
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
in Paris in 1924, moving to the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
from 1925 where he switched to
social geography. He then continued his studies in Hamburg, Berlin and London, the latter saw him acquainted with
Bronislaw Malinowski.
He completed his doctorate at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
under the tutelage of .
Hofstra became the first Dutch sociologist to conduct fieldwork in Africa when he traveled to Sierra Leone. In two visits from 1934 to 1936 he conducted ethnographic field work among the
Mende people. After contracting
blackwater fever, he was advised by medical professionals to cease his research. Despite preparations being undertaken to resume his research in Sierra Leone after the
Second World War
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 opposi ...
, these never materialised.
Between 1938 and 1949 Hofstra held the position of director of the
Wereldmuseum
The Wereldmuseum Rotterdam (formerly known as the Museum voor Land- en Volkenkunde) is an ethnographic museum, situated at Willemskade in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The museum was founded in 1883 and shows more than 1800 ethnographic objects fro ...
in Rotterdam (then known as the Museum voor Land en Volkenkunde). Alongside his duties in this position he served as professor by special appointment of African ethnology at the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
. Other positions included a fellowship at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
.
In 1950 he became a member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Hofstra was one of the founding figures of the
Institute of Social Studies
The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam is an independent and international graduate school of policy-oriented critical social science. ISS was established in 1952 by Dutch universities and the Neth ...
in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
in 1952, serving as its first director for two years.
Animal welfare
Hofstra was a
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetariani ...
from childhood. Alongside his academic research, he dedicated his life to animal protection. In 1953 he was elected chief board member of the
Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals, rising to chairman in 1961. He held this position until 1973.
Later life and death
Retiring from academia in 1968, Hofstra spent the final years of his life drawing attention to issues with factory farming. He served on the Study Committee for Intensive Livestock Farming, a group established by the
Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals until his death. Hofstra died April 14, 1983 in
Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thou ...
, Switzerland.
Archive
Hofstra's scientific legacy (fieldwork notes and other notes) is kept between the
African Studies Centre Leiden in
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
and the Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam. His time in Sierra Leone is documented through his correspondence collected in the volume ''Among the Mende in Sierra Leone: the letters from Sjoerd Hofstra (1934-36)'',
assembled by his daughter and professor of social and cultural history at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
, Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra.
Publications
His publications
include:
* (pseudonym Johannes Hoving): ''Droom en daad. Enkele proza-zangen'' (poetry in Dutch, Dream and deed. Some prose songs). Amersfoort, S.D. Veen, 1919
* ''Differenzierungserscheinungen in einigen afrikanischen Gruppen. Ein Beitrag zur Frage der primitiven Individualität'' (in German, Differentiation phenomena in some African groups. A contribution to the question of primitive individuality). Dissertation
GU Amsterdam, 1933.
* ''The Social Aspects of Knowledge and Science''. Amsterdam, Scheltema & Holkema, 1937
* ''The Belief Among the Mendi in Non-Ancestral Spirits, and Its Relation to a Case of Parricide''. Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie 40 (5–6): 175–183, 1942
* ''De houding van den mensch tegenover de natuur'' (in Dutch, Man's attitude to nature). Arnhem, Van Loghum Slaterus, 1945.
* ''African Ethnology. Problems, Place and Meaning''. Leiden, Brill, 1947
* ''Over universiteit, Marcuse en rationaliteit'' (in Dutch, On University, Marcuse and Rationality). Farewell speech GU Amsterdam. Leiden, Brill, 1969
* ''Enkele culturele en sociale Aspecten van een damverbinding met Ameland'' (in Dutch, Some Cultural and Social Aspects of a Dam Connection with
Ameland
Ameland (; West Frisian: It Amelân) is a municipality and one of the West Frisian Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. It consists mostly of sand dunes. It is the third major island of the West Frisians. It neighbours islands Ter ...
). Mededelingen der
Akademie van Wetenschappen, afd. Letterkunde. Nieuwe Reeks, XXXIII, nr. 3 (Amsterdam
tc.1970). Amsterdam Noord-Hollandse Uitg. Mij., 1970
References
External link
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofstra, Sjoerd
Dutch sociologists
Dutch anthropologists
20th-century Dutch scientists
1898 births
1983 deaths
People from Súdwest-Fryslân
University of Amsterdam alumni
Dutch ethnographers
20th-century Dutch journalists
20th-century social scientists