Alan Macfarlane

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Alan Macfarlane
School of Oriental and African Studies (PhD)
Known forThe Origins of English Individualism
Scientific career
FieldsAnthropology
History
InstitutionsKing's College, University of Cambridge
ThesisWitchcraft prosecutions in Essex, 1560–1680 (1967)
Doctoral advisorKeith Thomas
Websitealanmacfarlane.com

Alan Donald James Macfarlane

Professor Emeritus of King's College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 20 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan and China.[1] He has focused on comparative study of the origins and nature of the modern world. In recent years he has become increasingly interested in the use of visual material in teaching and research. He is a Fellow of the British Academy
and the Royal Historical Society.

Early life

Macfarlane was born into a British family of tea planters in

Brahmaputra
valley.

Career

Macfarlane was educated at the

He went on to be a research fellow in history at

emeritus professor of anthropological science at the University of Cambridge and a life fellow of King's College, Cambridge in 2009. Macfarlane received the Huxley Memorial Medal, the highest honour of the Royal Anthropological Institute
in 2012.

Anthropological interests

Macfarlane's first major publication, in 1970, was Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England, a historical study of the conditions that gave rise to English

Macfarlane has undertaken several periods of ethnographic field research, the first of these a period in

Malthus
' demographic principles, Macfarlane warned that the Gurung might experience a 'population check' in coming decades.

Historical interests

Macfarlane has published extensively on English history, advancing the idea that many traits of so-called "modern society" appeared in England long before the period of modernity as defined by historians, such as Lawrence Stone. Drawing loosely on work by Max Weber, Macfarlane has contrasted the defining characteristics of modern and traditional society. His 1987 book The Culture of Capitalism is a non-deterministic study of the emergence of modernity and capitalism in Western Europe. Two further books, The Origins of English Individualism (1978) and Marriage and Love in England (1986), explore the way English family institutions and social life emerged distinctly from continental European institutions and experiences.[4]

During the 1990s, Macfarlane was invited to lecture in Japan, initiating a period of research into the distinctive emergence of modernity in Japan by contrast to England and Europe. 1997's The Savage Wars of Peace returned to Macfarlane's early interest in Malthus and demographics, comparing the modernity experiences of England and Japan. The book argues that England and Japan, both relatively large but non-remote islands, were each positioned to develop an autonomous culture while still profiting from nearby continental influence. Through different means, both Japan and England overcame the

Malthusian trap, keeping birth and mortality rates under control, thus providing a demographic impetus for the rise of capitalism and prosperity.[5] Macfarlane wrote an entire book dedicated to Japan published in 2007, Japan Through the Looking Glass.[6]

Literary works and collaborations

Macfarlane's work on modernity acknowledges his Enlightenment roots. His Riddle of the Modern World (2000) and Making of the Modern World (2001) are contributions to the field of history of ideas, addressing the work of Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, Ernest Gellner, Yukichi Fukuzawa and Frederic Maitland.[7]

Another strand in his work addresses the role of particular inventions in transforming history. The Glass Bathyscaphe: How Glass Changed the World (2002), co-authored with Gerry Martin, discusses how the invention and use of glass facilitated European dominion overseas. Macfarlane and his mother Iris co-wrote Green Gold: The Empire of Tea (2003), presenting the thesis that tea contributed to English prosperity, preventing epidemics by requiring the boiling of water and by promoting antibiotic effects.

2005's Letters to Lily distils Macfarlane's reflections on a life of research, as addressed to his granddaughter Lily Bee. As a non-academic work it brought Macfarlane to the attention of a wider, non-scholarly audience.

Macfarlane's work has been widely read and cited by his contemporaries.[8] Critics have challenged the role he ascribes to English institutions in the establishment of modernity, and his moral relativism as a champion of modernity who nonetheless affirms the validity of non-Western institutions.[9]

Together with Mark Turin, Macfarlane established the Digital Himalaya Project in December 2000 and now serves as chairman of the executive board of the World Oral Literature Project. He is also a co-editor of The Fortnightly Review's "new series" online.

Publications

As editor The Gurungs: A Himalayan Population of Nepal by Bernard Pignede with Sarah Harrison, Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu, 1993, 523 p. ASIN B00B79CVSC
As contributor The Nagas: Hill Peoples of Northeast India - Society, Culture and the Colonial Encounter by Julian Jacobs with Sarah Harrison and

Major Thinkers Series

Following and expanding The Making of the Modern World: Visions from the West and East

How We Understand the World Series

Inspired by and continuing Letters To Lily: On How the World Works also addressed to younger persons of the author's and author's friends' families.

Other essays

As editor The Education of Iris Macfarlane 1922-1939 by

ISBN 978-1722269296 (the text is available on this page
)

Selected lectures

References

  1. ^ Authored and Edited Books on Alan Macfarlane's personal website
  2. ^ Snell, 1989
  3. ^ Snell, 1989
  4. ^ Snell, 1989
  5. ^ Snell, 1989
  6. ^ The important Japanese demographer Akira Hayami celebrated the book: "Before reading your book, I had thought that the best understanding of Japan was to be found in the final pages on Japan in Fernand Braudel's 'Grammaire des Civilisations' (1987). But just twenty years later, unlike him, you came and lived in Japan several times. Although his name will be left on my list of the academic studies of Japan, I will certainly put your book first."
  7. ^ White and Vann, 1983
  8. ^ Snell, 1989
  9. ^ White and Vann, 1983

Further reading

External links