Honoring Virginia Kerns
November 12, 2004
6404 Hilltop, corner with McFarlin Blvd.
Reception at 5:30
Lecture & Booksigning – 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Julian Steward (1902-72) is
best remembered in American anthropology as the creator of cultural ecology, a
theoretical approach that has influenced generations of archaeologists and
cultural anthropologists. This generous biography by Virginia Kerns, professor
of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary, considers the intellectual
and emotional influences of Steward's remarkable career and provides insights
into the development of anthropology during his lifetime.
Scenes from the High Desert locates the concept of cultural ecology as a
social theory in the context of Steward's lived experience and personal
construction of meaning. Kerns explores the scholar's early life in the American
West, his continued attachments to western landscapes and inhabitants, his
research with Native Americans, and the writing of his classic work, Theory
of Culture Change. Extracting the personal and professional experiences that
shaped his ideas on labor, technology, and the natural world, Kerns focuses
particularly on the ideas and experiences that gave rise to Steward's theory of
cultural ecology and most influenced American anthropology.
Through her exploration of Steward's career and his particular interest in men's
labor, Kerns illustrates how Steward's concept of the patrilineal band was
central to his intellectual work and grounded in his own social experiences and
autobiographical memory, especially memories of place. With fluid prose and rich
detail, the book captures the essence and breadth of Steward's career while
carefully measuring the ways he reinforced the male-centered structure of
mid-twentieth-century American anthropology.
The $2,500 Clements Book Prize honors fine writing and original research on the American Southwest. The competition is open to any nonfiction book, including biography, on any aspect of Southwestern life, past or present. The William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies is part of SMU's Dedman College and affiliated with the Department of History. It was created to promote research, publishing, teaching and public programming in a variety of fields related to the American Southwest. For more information about the Center or about the upcoming book prize event, please call (214) 768-1233 or visit the website at smu.edu/swcenter.
For more information, please call 214-768-3684 or email swcenter@smu.edu.
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Last updated September 10, 2004.