Tim Ingold | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1948-11-01)1 November 1948 (age 77) Kent, England |
| Known for | Taskscape |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA, PhD) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Social anthropology |
Timothy IngoldCBE FBA FRSE (born 1 November 1948[1]) is a British anthropologist, and Chair ofSocial Anthropology at theUniversity of Aberdeen.
Ingold was educated atLeighton Park School inReading, and his father was themycologistCecil Terence Ingold.[2] He attendedChurchill College, Cambridge, initially studying natural sciences but shifting to anthropology (BA in Social Anthropology 1970, PhD 1976).[1] His doctoral work was conducted with theSkolt Sámi of northeastern Finland, studying their ecological adaptations, social organisation and ethnic politics. His field work was primarily in the village ofSevettijärvi and in 2024 he donated his field diaries documenting Skolt life in the area in the early 1970s to the community.[3] Ingold taught at theUniversity of Helsinki (1973–74) and then theUniversity of Manchester, becoming Professor in 1990 andMax Gluckman Professor in 1995. In 1999, he moved to theUniversity of Aberdeen. In 2015, he received an honorary doctorate fromLeuphana University of Lüneburg (Germany).[4] He has four children.
To contextualize the development and breadth of Ingold’s research, several sources provide detailed accounts of his evolving scholarly trajectory.
These includeFrom science to art and back again: The pendulum of an anthropologist (2016),[5] an autobiographical article in which Ingold reflects on his career as a whole;Conversations with Tim Ingold: Anthropology, education and life (2024),[6] a series of interviews discussing his major works and contributions; and a publicly availableresearch statement on his official website, in which he outlines the development of his research interests over time.[7]
His interests are wide-ranging and he has described his scholarly approach as forging a path distinct from mainstream anthropology.[8] They include environmental perception, language, technology and skilled practice, art and architecture, creativity, theories of evolution in anthropology,human-animal relations, and ecological approaches in anthropology.
Early concern was with northern circumpolar peoples, looking comparatively athunting,pastoralism andranching as alternative ways in which such peoples have based a livelihood onreindeer orcaribou.
In his recent work, he links the themes of environmental perception and skilled practice, replacing traditional models of genetic and cultural transmission, founded upon the alliance of neo-Darwinian biology and cognitive science, with a relational approach focusing on the growth of embodied skills of perception and action within social and environmental contexts of human development. This has taken him to examining the use of lines in culture, and the relationship between anthropology, architecture, art and design.
Drawing onPhenomenology andProcess philosophy, Ingold explores the human as an organism which 'feels' its way through the world that "is itself in motion";[9] constantly creating and being changed by spaces and places as they are encountered.
Ingold states that the works ofHenri Bergson andAlfred North Whitehead had a "profound influence" on his thinking.[10]
Ingold was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2022 Birthday Honours for services to anthropology.[11]
in Britain, I feel that I've gone in one direction and, by and large, anthropology has gone in another direction. I often wonder whether I am an anthropologist any more. I think I'm forging a field that doesn't seem to be the field that other people who call themselves anthropologists are in. I don't worry about it too much, because I just do what I do and let other people decide whether I'm an anthropologist or not.
