Martha Kaplan

Martha Kaplan is an anthropologist who wrote a number of articles and books from her research conducted in Fiji and India. Ms. Kaplan is currently an anthropology professor at Vassar College in New York.

Personal and Professional Life

Martha Kaplan was born in 1957. Ms. Kaplan earned her AB (better known as B.A. or Bachelor of Arts degree) from Bryn Mawr College in 1979. Bryn Mawr College is located in Pennsylvania. Ms. Kaplan graduated magna cum laude. Martha Kaplan continued her education after earning her bachelor’s degree. Ms. Kaplan earned her Master of Arts in 1981 and PH.D. in 1988 in Anthropology from the University of Chicago.

Martha Kaplan is currently employed at Vassar College. She is one of ten faculty members in the anthropology department. In addition to being professor she is the Director of Asian Studies at Vassar College. She joined the faculty at Vassar in 1990. According to the anthropology department’s biography “She is a cultural anthropologist, specializing in the study of ritual, globalization, and colonial and post-colonial societies. She has pursued research in Fiji and India.” Martha Kaplan has taught a variety of different courses including “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology”, “Anthropological Approaches to Myth, Ritual and Symbol” and “Imagining Asia”.

She is married to John D. Kelly. Mr. Kelly is also an anthropologist as well as an author. Martha Kaplan’s husband also obtained his PH.D at the University of Chicago in 1988. He is currently an anthropology professor at the University of Chicago. The couple has two children together. They have co-authored books and articles such as Represented Communities: Fiji and World Decolonization published in September 2001. They have both done research in Fiji and India and used their research as the basis for their books. Martha Kaplan is the author of Neither Cargo nor Cult: Ritual Politics and the Colonial Imagination in Fiji.

Publications

Some of Martha Kaplan’s recent publications are:

2005 Outside Gods and Foreign Powers: Making Local History with Global Means in the Pacific. Ethnohistory special issue 52:1(2005). Contents: Preface by Marshall Sahlins, Introduction by Martha Kaplan; Original papers by John D Kelly, Andrew Lattas, Deborah McDougall, Martha Kaplan, Daniel Rosenblatt, and Margaret Jolly, with Comments by Robert J. Foster and Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney.

2005 "The Hau of Other Peoples' Gifts" Ethnohistory 52:1(2005)

2004 "Neither Traditional Nor Foreign: Dialogics of protest and agency in Fijian History" In Holger Jebens, Ton Otto, Karl Heinz Kohl eds. Cargo Cult and Culture Critique. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press pp 59–79.

2004 "Promised Lands: From Colonial Law-giving to Postcolonial Takeovers in Fiji" In Sally Engle Merry and Don Brenneis, eds. Law and Empire in the Pacific: Fiji and Hawaii. Santa Fe: School of American Research pp 153–186.

2004 "Fiji's Coups: The Politics of Representation and the Representation of Politics:" in Victoria Lockwood, ed. Pacific Islands Societies in a Global World. NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall pp. 72–85

References

1. “Faculty: Martha Kaplan.” <http://anthropology.vassar.edu/bios/makaplan.html> (28 Nov. 2010).

2. “Martha Kaplan: Professor Department of Anthropology Vassar College.” October 1998. <http://faculty.vassar.edu/makaplan/index.html> (28 Nov. 2010).

3. “Faculty and Staff.” < http://anthropology.uchicago.edu/faculty/faculty_kelly.shtml> (28 Nov. 2010).

4. “Publications of Martha Kaplan: Professor of Anthropology Vassar College.” <http://faculty.vassar.edu/makaplan/publications.html> (29 Nov. 2010).

5. “Courses Taught by Martha Kaplan: Professor of Anthropology Vassar College.” <http://faculty.vassar.edu/makaplan/courses.html> (29 Nov. 2010).

6. https://millib.wisconsin.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=5061&recCount=50&recPointer=1&bibId=965184

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Name	Kaplan, Martha
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Date of birth	1957
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