A sad day for anthropology

(I'm basically stealing this article from today's Daily Cal. It was written by Kaitlin Anderson)

Noted UC Berkeley professor of anthropology George Foster, known as the founder of modern medical anthropology, died May 18th at the age of 92.

Foster wrote more than 21 books and is recognized for his research on peasant societies and the creation of methodology for longterm research in ethnography.

"He was one of Berkeley's most important anthropologists and (was) very modest," said Ira Jackins, research anthropologist at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology. "He was not very egotistical at all."

A UC Berkeley professor since 1953, Foster wrote several important articles on the concept of "limited good." He also studied hot-cold concepts regarding structural properties of food, illness and medical plants.

His body of work includes historical reconstruction, peasnat economy and pottery and technology with a special interest in studying cultures without written language. He approached many of his projects from the perspective of economic development and public health.

Foster spent 18 months during 1945 and 1946 on fieldwork in Tzintzuntzan, Mexico for the Smithsonian's Institute of Social Anthropology. He returned to Tzintzuntzan yearly for more than 40 years to contiune his research.

It is this kind of dedication that made Foster an important American anthropologist, Jacknis said.

"He was an old-fashioned anthropologist,"she said. "They don't really make them like that anymore. Berkeley was very lucky to have him."

Foster served two terms as chair of the UC BErkeley anthropology department. He also spent two years as director of the Phoebe Hearst Museum, during the planning of Kroeber Hall, actively involving himself in its development.

Following his retirement in 1979 and up to the week before his death, Foster made weekly trips to the campus to meet with students and faculty.

Born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1913, Foster earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Northwestern University in 1935 and a doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1941.

Foster served as president of the American Anthropology Association. He was recipient of several academic awards.

Colleagues said Foster made great contributions in subjects of personal interest.

"I was impressed with him for the things he wasn't famous for," said Jacknis. "He wasn't a specialist in pottery, but he wrote several very good aritcles about it."

Foster is survived by his son, Jeremy of Basalt, Colo., daughter Melissa Bowerman of the Netherlands, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.


The author of this article fails to mention that in 1997 George Foster and his wife Mary, an intellectual powerhouse in her own right, were honored by having UC Berkeley's anthropology library named after them.

On April 16, 1997, in honor of two pillars of the anthropology department and of American anthropology, the branch library was named the George and Mary Foster Anthropology Library. George Foster, 83, a Berkeley professor emeritus of anthropology, has made important contributions for more than 55 years to a vast array of anthropological subjects including ethnography and field work, historical reconstruction, medical anthropology, peasant studies and pottery analysis. A Berkeley alumnus, he helped found the joint program in medical anthropology in 1975 and has written more than 20 books and 100 articles. The library's holdings include a copy of Foster's published PhD dissertation with an inscription on it to Kroeber, his dissertation adviser. Mary Foster, 82, who received her doctorate in linguistics from Berkeley in 1965, has written some 23 scholarly articles and is an activist in the international peace movement. The research library has some 80,000 volumes and is only one of three anthropology libraries in the country at a research university, said anthropology librarian Suzanne Calpestri.