Nelson H. H. Graburn | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 25, 1936[2] London, United Kingdom |
| Died | February 27, 2025(2025-02-27) (aged 89) |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Years active | 1950s–2025 |
| Known for | Canadian Inuit social and cultural anthropology, kinship, art, tourism, Japan |
| Academic background | |
| Education | B.A. Natural Sciences and Social Anthropology, Clare College (1958) M.A. Anthropology,McGill University (1960) Ph.D. AnthropologyUniversity of Chicago(1963) |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
| Thesis | Taqagmiut Eskimo Kinship Terminology (1963[2]) |
| Doctoral advisor | David M. Schneider[1] |
| Influences | William E. Willmott[1] |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Sociocultural Anthropology |
| Institutions | Canadian Arctic, Japan |
| Notable works | Ethnic Tourist Arts: Cultural Expressions from the Fourth World (1987) |
| Influenced | Mari Lyn Salvador[3] |
Nelson H. H. Graburn (November 25, 1936 – February 27, 2025) was a professor emeritus in Sociocultural Anthropology atUniversity of California, Berkeley.
Graburn studied as King's School, Canterbury from 1950 to 1955. He earned his B.A. in Natural Sciences and Social Anthropology at Clare College in 1958 and his M.A. Anthropology atMcGill University,Montreal in 1960. He completed his Ph.D. in anthropology at theUniversity of Chicago in 1963.[4] His PhD research was partially based on research by the Northern Co-ordination and Research Centre.[5]
Graburn began teaching at Berkeley in 1964. He had visiting appointments at a number of national museums globally including theNational Museum of Civilization inOttawa, Canada Le Centre des Hautes Etudes Touristiques, Aix-en-Provence, the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) in Osaka, the Research Center for Korean Studies, Kyushu National University, Fukuoka, the International Institute for Culture, Tourism and Development, London Metropolitan University, theFederal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil and he lectured at twenty-four Chinese universities. He is currently a professor emeritus in Sociocultural Anthropology atUniversity of California, Berkeley.[6]
His areas of research included "social and cultural anthropology, kinship, art, tourism, Japan, circumpolar, China, Heritage, and Inuit."[7]
Graburn's Ph.D. was based on materials gathered in 1959 in theInuit hamlet ofSalluit, then known as, Sugluk, in Quebec, Canada, on Sugluk Inlet nearHudson Strait. He had fellowships from McGill-Carnegie Arctic Institute andCanada Council. The next year he spent three months inKimmirut, then known as Lake Harbour,Baffin Island continuing his research with the Inuit. The data from the Sugluk fieldwork was the basis for his MA. The data from both field trips was also submitted as reports in 1960 and 1963 to the Canadian Government as part of the newly formed Northern Coordination and Research Centre.[1]: ii His dissertation, "Taqagmiut Eskimo Kinship Terminology" (1963) was reproduced as a contribution to the knowledge of the North and republished by theDepartment of Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada (INAC) in Ottawa, Canada in 1964.[1] These reports were cited in the "Qikiqtani Truth Commission Community Histories 1950–1975".[8]
In the 1960s he had a visiting appointment with theNational Museum of Civilization inOttawa, Canada. One of his first books wasEskimos without Igloos which was published in 1969.[9]
By the early 2000s, he focused his research on contemporary Inuit arts which included "urban Inuit" artists. Graburn collaborated with Avataq, in Nunavik, an Inuit cultural organization. He also worked with Inuit institutions inIqaluit, Nunavut "on aspects of cultural preservation and autonomy".[6]
In 1974, Graburn began his ethnographic research in Japan. He had a visiting appointment with the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) inOsaka. He co-edited the 2007 publication entitledMulticulturalism in the New Japan: Crossing the Boundaries Within.[10]Japan Studies called it a "valuable addition to the increasing literature on Japanese multiculturalism which has challenged the long-held homogeneous Japan thesis."[11]
Graburn's most highly cited works include his 1977 publication,Tourism: the Sacred Journey[12] and his 1976 book entitledEthnic Tourist Arts: Cultural Expressions from the Fourth World.[13] His concept of "tourism as a "sacred journey"—a "structurally-necessary, ritualized" break from routines during which it is taboo for the tourist to work"—contributed to the new area of anthropology of tourism that was emerging in the 1970s.[14]: 3
InEthnic Tourist Arts, Graburn... sought to provide a "more coherent framework for evaluating not only the art and artisans but, perhaps more importantly, the peculiar ethnoaesthetic context in which both creator and consumer come to evaluate each other."[15]
Graburn died on February 27, 2025, at the age of 88.[16]
Graburn had "visiting appointments at the National Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, Le Centre des Hautes Études Touristiques, Aix-en-Provence, the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) in Osaka, the Research Center for Korean Studies, Kyushu National University, Fukuoka, the International Institute for Culture, Tourism and Development, London Metropolitan University, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil."
