Person

Geddes, William Robert (Bill) (1916 - 1989)

Born
29 April 1916
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Died
27 April 1989
Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Anthropologist

Summary

Bill Geddes was an anthropologist who viewed the discipline as an important force for tolerance and cross-cultural understanding. His principle interests lay with the ethnic minorities of Southeast Asia and he made major studies of the Dayaks of Sarawak and the hill tribesmen of northern Thailand. In 1964 -1965 he was advisor to the Tribal Research Centre, set up by the Thai Government, which ultimately embroiled him in controversy about the use to which governments might put data gathered during such surveys. As Professor of Anthropology at the University of Sydney he extended the Department's focus beyond Oceania to include Asia, broadened it to include archaeology and prehistory, and made anthropology available to first year students. Geddes was a skilled still and cinematic photographer. His appreciation of the importance of film in recording vanishing ways of life caused him to make a number of highly-regarded films.

Details

Chronology

1938
Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Otago, New Zealand
1939
Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Otago, New Zealand
1939 - 1940
Career position - Demonstrator, Department of Psychology, University of Otago, New Zealand
1941 - 1945
Career position - Service with New Zealand armed forces
1947 - 1948
Career position - Lecturer in Psychology, Birbeck College, London
1948
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of London
1949 - 1951
Career position - Sociology Research Officer, Sarawak
1951 - 1953
Career position - Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Auckland
1954 - 1956
Career position - Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland
1955
Award - Wellcome Medal, Royal Anthropological Institute
1957 - 1958
Career position - Associate Professor, University of Auckland
1959 - 1981
Career position - Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney
1960
Career position - President, Australian Anthropological Association
1961
Career position - President, Section F, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
1964 - 1970
Career position - Chairman, Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs
1975 - 1977
Career position - Head, Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney
1981
Life event - Retired

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Book Sections

Journal Articles

  • Sandall, Roger, 'Bill Geddes and ethnographic films', Anthropology Today, 8 (2) (1992), 22-3. Details
  • Wright, Richard, 'William Robert Geddes (1916 - 1989)', Oceania, 60 (1) (1989), 60-1. Details

Resources

See also

  • Allen, Harry, 'The first university positions in prehistoric archaeology in New Zealand and Australia', Bulletin of the history of archaeology, 29 (1:2) (2019), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5334/bha-606. Details

Helen Cohn

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260