Meyer Fortes FBA FRAI (25 April 1906 – 27 January 1983) was a South African-born

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

, best known for his work among the Tallensi and Ashanti in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

. Originally trained in

psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

, Fortes employed the notion of the "person" into his structural-functional analyses of

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

, the family, and

ancestor worship The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...

setting a standard for studies on African social organization. His celebrated book, ''Oedipus and Job in West African Religion'' (1959), fused his two interests and set a standard for comparative

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

. He also wrote extensively on issues of the first born, kingship, and

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

Life

Fortes received his anthropological training from

Charles Gabriel Seligman Charles Gabriel Seligman FRS FRAI (24 December 1873 – 19 September 1940) was a British physician and ethnologist. His main ethnographic work described the culture of the Vedda people of Sri Lanka and the Shilluk people of the Sudan. He was ...

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 milli ...

. Fortes also trained with

Bronisław Malinowski Bronisław Kasper Malinowski (; 7 April 1884 – 16 May 1942) was a Polish-British anthropologist and ethnologist whose writings on ethnography, social theory, and field research have exerted a lasting influence on the discipline of anthro ...

and

Raymond Firth Sir Raymond William Firth (25 March 1901 – 22 February 2002) was an ethnologist from New Zealand. As a result of Firth's ethnographic work, actual behaviour of societies (social organization) is separated from the idealized rules of behaviou ...

. Along with contemporaries A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, Sir

Edmund Leach Sir Edmund Ronald Leach FRAI FBA (7 November 1910 – 6 January 1989) was a British social anthropologist and academic. He served as provost of King's College, Cambridge from 1966 to 1979. He was also president of the Royal Anthropologi ...

Audrey Richards Audrey Isabel Richards, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, FRAI, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (8 July 1899 – 29 June 1984), was a pioneering British social an ...

, and

Lucy Mair Lucy Philip Mair (28 January 1901 – 1 April 1986) was a British anthropologist. She wrote on the subject of social organization, and contributed to the involvement of anthropological research in governance and politics. Her work on colonial a ...

, Fortes held strong functionalist views that insisted upon

empirical evidence Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences ...

in order to generate analyses of society. His volume with E. E. Evans-Pritchard, ''

African Political Systems ''African Political Systems'' is an academic anthology edited by the anthropologists Meyer Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard which was published by Oxford University Press on the behalf of the International African Institute in 1940. The book contai ...

'' (1940) established the principles of segmentation and balanced opposition, which were to become the hallmarks of African political anthropology. Despite his work in Francophone West Africa, Fortes' work on political systems was influential to other British anthropologists, especially Max Gluckman and played a role in shaping what became known as the Manchester school of social anthropology, which emphasized the problems of working in colonial Central Africa. Fortes spent much of his career as a Reader at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and was the

William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology The William Wyse Professorship of Social Anthropology is a professorship in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge. It was founded on 18 June 1932 and endowed partly with the support of Trinity College from money bequeathed to them b ...

there from 1950–1973. In 1963, Fortes delivered the inaugural

Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social e ...

at 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 ...

, considered by many to be the most important annual lecture series in the field of Anthropology. Fortes was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1964, was President of the

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 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 1965–67 and recipient of the Institute's highest honour, the Huxley Memorial Medal in 1977. He was also an elected member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

Selected bibliography

*1940.

(editor, with E. E. Evans-Pritchard). London and New York: International African Institute. *1945. The Dynamics of Clanship among the Tallensi. *1949. The Web of Kinship among the Tallensi. *1959. Oedipus and Job in West African Religion. *1969. Kinship and the Social Order. *1970. Time and Social Structure. *1970. Social Structure (editor). *1983. Rules and the Emergence of Society.

References

* Hart, Keith (2018
“Structural Dynamics: Forms, Networks, Numbers. (Meyer Fortes in the 1940s)”
in ''BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology'', Paris. * Kuper, Adam (2018)

in ''BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology'', Paris. *

External links

Lecture by Meyer Fortes on Talensi divination followed by a discussion with students. Filmed 1982 by Audio Visual Aids Unit in Cambridge
*Resources related to research
BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology
Paris, 2018. (ISSN 2648-2770) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortes, Meyer 1906 births 1983 deaths Social anthropologists Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Presidents of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Alumni of the London School of Economics South African Jews Jewish scientists British Jews South African anthropologists William Wyse Professors of Social Anthropology Jewish anthropologists 20th-century anthropologists South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Members of the American Philosophical Society