Rappaport, Roy A.

American anthropologist born in New York City in 1926 and educated at Cornell University (B.A. Hotel Admin., 1949)) and Columbia University (Ph. D. Anthropology, 1966). Rappaport was a member of the 1962-1963 Columbia University Expedition to Papua New Guinea, during which time he conducted fieldwork concerning the role of ritual and ecology in the lives of the Tsembaga, a Maring-speaking people living in the Simbai River Valley, Madang Province. In 1965, Rappaport accepted a faculty position in the Anthropology Dept. at the Univ. of Michigan, which he held until 1997. Rappaport died in Ann Arbor, Mich. in 1997.

BIOGRAPHY

Roy A. (Skip) Rappaport was born in New York City on March 25, 1926. Rappaport earned his B.S. in hotel administration from Cornell University (1949) and his Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University (1966).

From October 1962 to December 1963, Rappaport spent fourteen months in the Simbai Valley of the Madang Territory in Papua New Guinea researching the Tsembaga Maring for his dissertation. The Tsembaga Maring, shifting swidden horticulturists, occupied approximately three square miles of the southern wall of the Simbai Valley, a region that had been contacted (1958) and "controlled" (1962) by the Australian government. His research was concerned with the means by which ritual mediates the relationships of a congregation, or population, to entities external to itself. During his time there, Rappaport collected extensive information on Tsembaga demography, ritual, animal husbandry, gardening, linguistics, and nutrition. His research was supplemented by contact with other researchers in the Simbai Valley working with neighboring tribes, including Andrew and Cherry Vayda and Allison and Marek Jablonko, who were associated with the Columbia University Expedition with Rappaport. In addition, Ann Rappaport, who accompanied her husband in the field, was primarily responsible for the Tsembaga Maring linguistic research.

Rappaport's dissertation, RITUAL IN THE ECOLOGY OF A NEW GUINEA PEOPLE: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE TSEMBAGA MARING (1966), was later expanded to PIGS FOR THE ANCESTORS: RITUAL IN THE ECOLOGY OF A NEW GUINEA PEOPLE (1967). It became a landmark study of human ecology in a New Guinea central highland tribal society.

Just prior to defending his dissertation, Rappaport accepted a position in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan where he was a faculty member from 1965 until 1997, eventually distinguishing himself as the Walgreen Professor for the Study of Human Understanding. In addition, he served as the chair (1975-1980) of the Department of Anthropology and was the president of the American Anthropological Association from 1987-1989.

A grant from the National Science Foundation enabled Rappaport to take a second trip to the Simbai Valley from October 1981 to August 1982. This trip served as a follow-up study designed to analyze the change and acculturation of the Tsembaga Maring under increasing pressure from Western culture.

Rappaport authored two additional books: ECOLOGY, MEANING, AND RELIGION (1984) and, RITUAL AND RELIGION IN THE MAKING OF HUMANITY (1999), published posthumously. He also authored over 60 journal articles.

Roy Rappaport died on October 9, 1997 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.