Joanna Overing

Last updated
Joanna Overing
Born(1938-08-12)August 12, 1938
EducationM.A. in History, University of Connecticut
Ph.D. in Anthropology Brandeis University
Alma mater Duke University
University of Connecticut
Brandeis University
Occupation Anthropologist

Joanna Overing (born August 12, 1938 in Takoma Park, Maryland) is an American anthropologist based in Scotland. She has conducted research on egalitarianism, indigenous cosmology, philosophical anthropology, aesthetics, the ludic and linguistics through fieldwork in Amazonia. She has extensively studied indigenous Piaroa people in the Orinoco basin of Venezuela.

Contents

Academic career

Overing completed her B.A. at Duke University and the University of Connecticut in History, followed by her M.A. in History from the University of Connecticut. She completed her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Brandeis University. [1] She is Professor Emeritus at the University of St Andrews in the Department of Social Anthropology, [1] and a Researcher within the Centre for Amerindian, Latin American and Caribbean Studies. [2] She has previously held posts as Professor and Chair in Social Anthropology at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews and Director of Centre of Indigenous American Studies and Exchange (CIASE), as well as teaching positions at Vanderbilt University and the London School of Economics.

Influence in Anthropology

One of Overing's central interests in Amazonianist anthropology is the relationship between egalitarianism and individualism in Amerindian societies. Anthropologist Harry Walker has written that Overing 'pioneered the study of what she termed the “art of living” or the “aesthetics of everyday life,” showing how the Western distinction between ethics and aesthetics is irrelevant in a world where people strive for beauty in their social relations with others.' [3]

Selected publication

Books

Articles and Chapters

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff</span> Austrian anthropologist (1912–1994)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalina people</span> Indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piaroa people</span>

The Piaroa people, known among themselves as the Huottüja or De'aruhua, are a pre-Columbian South American indigenous ethnic group of the middle Orinoco Basin in present-day Colombia and Venezuela, living in an area larger than Belgium, roughly circumscribed by the Suapure, Parguaza (north), the Ventuari (south-east), the Manapiare (north-east) and the right bank of the Orinoco (west). Their present-day population is about 15,000 (INE 2002), with an estimated 2,500 living on the left bank of the Orinoco River, in Colombia, in several reservations between the Vichada (north) and the Guaviare (south).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples in Venezuela</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Gow (anthropologist)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Simon (artist)</span> Guyanese artist and archaeologist (1947–2020)

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References

  1. 1 2 "Social Anthropology at St Andrews: Staff profiles". www.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-05-11.
  2. Andrews, Mike Arrowsmith, CAS, University of St. "Centre for Amerindian, Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CAS)". www.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-05-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Walker, Harry (2015-12-23). "Joy within tranquility: Amazonian Urarina styles of happiness" (PDF). HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory. 5 (3): 177–196. doi:10.14318/hau5.3.010. ISSN   2049-1115. S2CID   56443518.