Robert Lawless

Robert Lawless

Robert Lawless, 74, cultural anthropologist and world renowned specialist on Haiti died of heart failure on February 2, 2012 in Wichita, Kansas. He was born October 4, 1937 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and received his undergraduate training at Northwestern University, Illinois. He graduated in 1959 with a degree in journalism. After working in California, he joined the military as a Russian-English translator for the National Security Agency at the border to East Germany. During the 1960s, he taught English at Brent School, Baguio, Philippines before he began to lecture in anthropology at the University of the Philippines at Quezon City, where he also received his MA in Asian studies in 1968. He subsequently held a post as research fellow at the Institute of Asian Studies.

He earned his PhD in anthropology from the New School for Social Research and his doctoral thesis was The Social Ecology of the Kalingas of Northern Luzon (1975). In 1976, Lawless accepted the position as assistant professor at the University of Florida at Gainesville, where he received tenure two years later.

While earlier research focused on the questions of ecology and economy in the Philippines, a position as professor of African Studies at the University of Florida led to his research interest in Haiti. He published Haiti: A Research Handbook (1990) and, more importantly, Haiti’s Bad Press: Origins, Development, and Consequences (1992), which became his most well-known publication. That same year, he accepted an appointment at Wichita State University as associate professor and was awarded full professorship in 1994.

Lawless’ record of scholarship is based on his theoretical attentiveness and ethnographic encounter. His research focused on a comparative, holistic and evolutionary examination of cultures, and his writing is pithy and powerful. While his research in the Philippines included urban residents and tribal groups, his work in Haiti concentrated on sociopolitical structures, coffee production and local tourism. In conjunction with his interests in migration, he carried out fieldwork among immigrant ethnic groups in New York City.

Throughout his career, he facilitated an integrative and holistic approach to the study of culture in its cognitive and ecological aspects. He broadened the field of urban anthropology while bridging anthropology and journalism in new ways. Serving in various roles for professional organizations, including the Association of Third World Studies and the Association of Philippine Anthropologists, Lawless was interviewed and consulted as a respected specialist on national radio, television and court cases related to political situations and natural disasters in Haiti. He always took side with the local people and was directly involved in the drafting of position papers directed to the Aristide government to restore a representative government.

He is survived by his second wife Anita Raghavan with whom he was married since 1988, their daughter Sharmini and sons Kylen and Tavrick. He is also survived by his daughter Ilona and son Andrew from his earlier marriage with Aida Arribas as well by his granddaughters Mackenzie and Kerrigan and his brothers Jerrold and Lyndon. (Jens Kreinath)

via Anthropology-News http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2013/02/10/robert-lawless/