E. E. Evans-Pritchard
English anthropologist who studied Azande and Nuer peoples.
He was instrumental in the development of social anthropology. He is best known for his ethnographic studies of the Azande and Nuer peoples, as well as his theoretical arguments that anthropology should be grouped among the humanities rather than the natural sciences.
- field
- Social anthropology
- nationality
- English
- known_for
- Studies of Azande and Nuer; structural-functionalism; argument that anthropology
Lore & Background
R. Marett. He contended that the main issue facing anthropologists was translation—finding a way to translate one's own thoughts into another culture and then translate that understanding back.
Reader's Guide
Evans-Pritchard's significance lies in his foundational contributions to social anthropology through detailed ethnographic fieldwork and theoretical innovation. His study of Azande witchcraft, oracles, and magic is considered the first major anthropological contribution to the sociology of knowledge, taking a neutral—some would say relativist—stance on the correctness of Zande beliefs about causation. His work on the Nuer, developed alongside Meyer Fortes and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, became classics of British social anthropology and helped establish structural-functionalism. His co-edited volume *African Political Systems* (1940) was also seminal. Later in his career, his argument that anthropology is a humanity rather than a natural science influenced the discipline's self-understanding.
Did You Know?
- Evans-Pritchard was known to friends and family as 'EP'.
- He raised irregular troops among the Anuak during the Second World War.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is E. E. Evans-Pritchard?
Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard was a British social anthropologist born in East Sussex in 1902 who spent the bulk of his academic career at Oxford. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in shaping the discipline of social anthropology during the twentieth century.
What are Evans-Pritchard's most famous field studies?
He is best known for his detailed ethnographic work among the Nuer of southern Sudan and the Azande of the Upper Nile region. These two monographs became foundational texts for how anthropologists examine kinship, political organization, and indigenous belief systems.
What was Evans-Pritchard's major theoretical argument?
He pushed back firmly against the notion that anthropology should be classified alongside the natural sciences such as biology or chemistry. He contended that the discipline belongs among the humanities because it deals with meaning, interpretation, and cultural context rather than universal natural laws.
Where did Evans-Pritchard hold his professorship?
He was appointed Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford in 1946 and held that chair until 1970. He passed away in Oxford just three years after stepping down from the position.
Why do anthropology fans still discuss Evans-Pritchard?
His structural-functionalist approach to understanding societies, paired with his insistence that anthropology is interpretive rather than purely empirical, set the stage for decades of methodological debate in the field. Even scholars who rejected his functionalist assumptions had to grapple with the analytical frameworks he established.
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