- Robbins Burling
Robbins Burling (b.
April 18 ,1926 inMinneapolis ,Minnesota ) is an American professor ofanthropology andlinguistics .Education and career
Burling received his undergraduate degree from
Yale University in 1950 and his Ph.D in Anthropology fromHarvard University in 1958. His teaching career began as a teaching fellow in Anthropology at Harvard University in the fall of 1953, the spring of 1954 and the spring of 1957.Burling was an instructor at the Department of Anthropology at the
University of Pennsylvania from 1957-1959. He became an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania from 1959-1963. From 1959-1963 he was the Assistant Curator of General Ethnology at the University Museum.From 1959-1960, Burling was a visiting lecturer, Fulbright Program, in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the
University of Rangoon ,Burma . He became an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Associate of the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at theUniversity of Michigan from 1966-1995. Currently, Dr. Burling is professor emeritus of Anthropology and Linguistics at the University of Michigan.Burling specializes in language, human evolution and comprehension in communication. He has researched extensively in
Bangladesh andIndia .Writing
His books include "Hill Farms and Padi Fields: Life in Mainland Southeast Asia", "The Passage of Power: Studies in Political Succession" and "The Talking Ape: How Language Evolved".
Personal life
Shortly after finishing college, Burling was married and had three children.
External links
* [http://www.popularscience.co.uk/reviews/rev203.htm "Popular Science" review of "The Talking Ape"]
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