Epstein, A. L. (Arnold Leonard)

English husband and wife anthropologists who specialized in the study of Melanesian culture. Arnold Epstein began his career as a member of the of Rhodes-Livingstone Institute in Lansaka, Northern Rhodesia, where his efforts were directed at investigating African native tribal laws. Trude Scarlett Epstein first studied economic development and social change of among the Mysore villages in southern India. Both Epsteins were eventually appointed to the faculty of the University of Sussex in Brighton, England.

From the description of Arnold Leonard and Trude Scarlett Epstein Papers, 1949-1981. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 22776815

Biography

BIOGRAPHY - A.L. EPSTEIN

Arnold Leonard (Bill) Epstein, anthropologist, professor and writer, was born in Liverpool, England, on September 13, 1924. He served in the Royal Navy during the war. In 1944, he received a law degree from Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and a doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Manchester in 1955. His post-doctoral research (1950-1956) at the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute in Lansaka, Northern Rhodesia, involved the study of African native tribal law.

After returning to England, Epstein worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Manchester (1957-1958) where met his future wife, Trude Scarlett Trent. Together they undertook a study of Tolai culture on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. They first went to Rapitok, then to Matupit, where Epstein studied the legal, political and social structure of the Tolai people. T.S. Epstein continued her own research on the economic affairs of the Gazelle Peninsula. They returned to England in 1960 and Epstein was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester in 1961, where he remained until 1966. He received a fellowship from the Australian National University in Canberra and taught there from 1966-1972, serving as the Head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology from 1970-1972.

In 1972, Epstein was appointed professor of social anthropology at the School of African and Asian Studies at the University of Sussex. In 1974, he received a fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. In 1981, Epstein spent a year at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies in Wessenaar.

BIOGRAPHY - TRUDE SCARLETT EPSTEIN

Trude Scarlett Epstein, anthropologist, economist and writer, was born on July 13, 1922. She studied economic development and social change in the Mysore villages of southern India (1954-1956, 1970). She also conducted research on economic structures of the Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain, Papua New Guinea, during 1959-1960 and 1969-1970.

In 1959, T.S. Epstein was appointed Senior Fellow in the Department of Economics at the Institute of Development Studies, Australian National University. She remained there until 1972 when she was later appointed professor at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex in Brighton, England.

From the guide to the Arnold Leonard and Trude Scarlett Epstein Papers, 1949-1995, (Mandeville Special Collections Library)