Kaberry, Phyllis (1910 - 1977)

Summary

Phyllis Kaberry was an anthropologist whose major work in Australia, conducted from 1934 in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, was the first to study the kinship, religion, and economic and social organisation of Aboriginal women. She published a series of papers in 1938 which constitutes one of the earliest detailed studies of daily camp activities and food preparation. Her PhD, later published as Aboriginal women, sacred and profane (1939), was notable in presenting Aboriginal women as integral to Aboriginal culture, in contrast to the usual perception of the time. Later work in the Sepik district of New Guinea was cut short by the hostilities of war. Between 1945 and 1963 she spent extended periods in West Africa, investigating the causes of malnutrition and working to remove straying cattle that destroyed the women's farms. Kaberry played a central role in the affairs of the Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, serving as Vice-President from 1965 to 1968.

Details

Chronology

1913

Life event - Moved to New Zealand with her family

1914

Life event - Moved to Australia with her family

1933

Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Sydney

1935

Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Sydney

1938

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), London School of Economics

1941 - 1943

Career position - Sterling and Carnegie Fellowships, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.

1943 - 1944

Career position - Research Associate, Royal Institute of International Affairs

1950 - 1977

Career position - Reader in Anthropology, University College, London

1951 - 1963

Career position - Member of Council, Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

1957

Award - Rivers Medal, Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

1959

Award - Wellcome Medal (jointly), Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

1965 - 1968

Career position - Vice-President, Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

1977

Life event - Retired

Published resources

Books

• Kaberry, P. M., Aboriginal women sacred and profane (London: George Routledge, 1939), 294 pp. Details
• Marcus, Julie, First in their field: women and Australian anthropology (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1989), 205 pp. Details
• Toussaint, Sandy, Phyllis Kaberry and me: anthropology, history and Aboriginal Australia (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1999), 128 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Cheater, Christine, 'Kaberry, Phyllis Mary (1910-1977), anthropologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 14: 1940 - 1980 Di-Kel, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), p. 596. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140678b.htm. Details
• Toussaint, Sandy, 'Phyllis Mary Kaberry, 1910-1977' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Edited Books

• Ardener, Shirley ed., Persons and powers of women in diverse cultures: essays in commemoration of Audrey I. Richards, Phyllis Kaberry, and Barbara E. Ward (New York: Berg, 1992), 219 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Cheater, Christine, '"She was the first one " : Phyllis Mary Kaberry, a founding mother of feminist anthropology', Lilith: a feminist history journal, 14 (2005), 65-7. Details
• Williams, Nancy M., '"She was one of the first...": Phyllis Kaberry in the East Kimberley', Aboriginal History, 12 (1988), 85-102. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q430085. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/111453345. Details

See also

• Bowdler, Sandra and Clune, Genevieve, 'That shadowy band: the role of women in the development of Australian archaeology', Australian Archaeology, 50 (2000), 276-35. Details