Paul James Bohannan (March 5, 1920 – July 13, 2007) was an Americananthropologist known for his research on theTiv people of Nigeria,spheres of exchange anddivorce in the United States.

Bohannan was born inLincoln,Nebraska, to Hillory Bohannan and Hazel Truex Bohannan. During theDust Bowl his family moved toBenson, Arizona.World War II interrupted his college education, and he served in theU.S. ArmyQuartermaster Corps from 1941 to 1945 reaching the rank ofcaptain. In 1947 he graduatedPhi Beta Kappa^[2] with hisbachelor's degree inGerman^[3] from theUniversity of Arizona. He attendedQueen's College, Oxford, thereafter as aRhodes scholar,^[4] receiving aBachelor of Science in 1949 and hisdoctor of philosophy degree in 1951, both in anthropology.^[1]

Bohannan remained in England and was a lecturer in social anthropology at Oxford University until 1956 when he returned to the United States taking up an assistant professorship in anthropology atPrinceton University. In 1959, Bohannan left Princeton for a full professorship atNorthwestern University inEvanston, Illinois. From 1975 to 1982 he taught at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara. In 1982 he became dean of the social science and communications department at theUniversity of Southern California (U.S.C.).^[4] He retired from full-time teaching in 1987, but remained at U.S.C. as professor emeritus until his death.

From 1962 to 1964 Bohannan was a director on theSocial Science Research Council. He was a director ofAmerican Ethnological Society from 1963 to 1966. Bohannan was president of theAfrican Studies Association in 1964. He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1970.^[5] In 1979–1980, he was president of theAmerican Anthropological Association.

Bohannan marriedLaura Marie Smith, an anthropologist with whom he collaborated onTiv Economy, on 15 May 1943. They had one son, Denis, and were divorced in 1975. He remained married to his second wife, Adelyse D'Arcy, from 1981 until his death.^[1] Bohannan died on 13 July 2007, inVisalia, California.^[1] He was a connoisseur ofScotch whisky and aballet enthusiast.^[1]

• 1944Legion of Merit.^[3]
• 1969Herskovitz Prize forTiv Economy, shared with his wife Laura Bohannan.

• Justice and Judgment among the Tiv. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1957.OCLC 67530323.
• Social Anthropology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1963.OCLC 230074.
• Africa and Africans. Garden City, NY: Natural History Press. 1964.OCLC 413202. (Fourth Edition [with Philip Curtin] published Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 1995)
• With Bohannan, Laura (1968).Tiv Economy. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.OCLC 7394758.
• With Bernard, Jessie (1970).Divorce and After. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.OCLC 87758.
• We, the Alien: An introduction to cultural anthropology. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. 1991.ISBN 978-0-88133-637-5.
• How Culture Works. New York: Free Press. 1995.ISBN 978-0-02-904505-3.
• With van der Elst, Dirk (1998).Asking and Listening: Ethnography as Personal Adaptation. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.ISBN 978-0-88133-987-1.

• 1920 births
• 2007 deaths
• 20th-century American anthropologists
• Writers from Lincoln, Nebraska
• American social anthropologists
• American Africanists
• American Rhodes Scholars
• Academics of the University of Oxford
• American expatriate academics in the United Kingdom
• Princeton University faculty
• Northwestern University faculty
• University of California, Santa Barbara faculty
• University of Southern California faculty
• University of Arizona alumni
• Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford
• Recipients of the Legion of Merit
• People from Benson, Arizona
• United States Army personnel of World War II
• Members of the American Philosophical Society
• Presidents of the African Studies Association
• ASA Best Book Prize winners

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