Wendy Rosalind James, (born 4 February 1940) is a British retired social anthropologist and academic. She was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford from 1996 to 2007, and President of the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

from 2001 to 2004.

Early life and education

James was born on 4 February 1940 to William Stanley James and Isabel James (''née'' Lunt). She was educated at Kelsick School, a grammar school in Ambleside, Cumbria. She studied geography at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1962. James's interest in Africa was developed through the stories her father told her about his time working in Uganda and her interest in anthropology was sparked during a "'

hands-on "Hands-on" refers to human interaction, often with technology. It implies active participation in a direct and practical way. Hands-on or Hands-On may refer to: * Hands-on computing, a branch of human-computer interaction (HCI) research * Hand ...

' introductory course at the Pitt Rivers Museum" in Oxford during her undergraduate degree. She therefore changed direction and remained at St Hugh's College studying anthropology, completing a Bachelor of Letters (BLitt) degree in 1964. She undertook postgraduate research on a part-time basis at Oxford, completing her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1970. Her doctoral dissertation was titled "Principles of social organisation among the Uduk speaking people of the southern Fung region, Republic of the Sudan".

Academic career

From 1964 to 1969, James was a lecturer in

social anthropology 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 ...

at the University of Khartoum in Sudan. During this time, she "conducted traditional

ethnographic research 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 ...

among the Uduk people living in the Blue Nile region along the Sudan/Ethiopian border". From 1969 to 1971, she was a Leverhulme research Fellow at

. Between 1971 and 1972, she was a visiting lecturer at the University of Bergen. In 1972, James was elected a Fellow of

St Cross College, Oxford St Cross College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1965, St Cross is an all-graduate college with gothic and traditional-style buildings on a central site in St Giles', just south of Pusey Street. It a ...

, and appointed a University Lecturer in

at Oxford's School of Anthropology. She was awarded a

Title of Distinction The University of Oxford introduced Titles of Distinction for senior academics in the 1990s. These are not established chairs, which are posts funded by endowment for academics with a distinguished career in British and European universities. Howeve ...

as Professor of Social Anthropology in July 1996. In 2007, she retired from full-time academia and was appointed an Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College. In addition to her university positions, James held a number of appointments. She was President of the

from 2001 to 2004. She was Vice-President of the

British Institute in Eastern Africa The British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and is dedicated to supporting historical, archaeological, and other social science and humanities research in eastern Africa. The BIEA is sponsored by the British A ...

from 2001 to 2011. She worked as an occasional consultant to bodies such as the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Kingdom's

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

Personal life

In 1977, James married

Douglas H. Johnson Douglas Hamilton Johnson is an American scholar who lives in Britain who specializes in the history of North East Africa, Sudan and the Southern Sudan. Work in the Sudan Johnson worked to support the 2003 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement ne ...

, a British historian and academic. Together, they have had two children: one son and one daughter.

Honours

James was awarded the Amaury Talbot Prize for African Anthropology by the

for her monograph ''The Listening Ebony: Moral Knowledge, Religion and Power among the Uduk of Sudan'' in 1988. In 2005, she was awarded an

honorary An honorary position is one given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment. Other uses include: * Honorary Academy Award, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States * Honorary Aryan, a status in Nazi Germany ...

'' Dr Scientiarum Anthropologicarum'' (DSc) degree by the University of Copenhagen. She was awarded the Rivers Memorial Medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute in 2009. In 1999, James was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. In the

2011 Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to scholarship".

Selected works

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 15 May 2009 (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Wendy 1940 births Living people British anthropologists British women anthropologists Social anthropologists Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford Fellows of St Cross College, Oxford University of Khartoum faculty Fellows of the British Academy Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Presidents of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland