- Rosemary Firth
Rosemary, Lady Firth (1912 – 9 July 2001) was a British
social anthropologist , and wife of Sir Raymond Firth. She specialised in the field ofdomestic economy .
=Life= Rosemary Firth (née Upcott) was born in 1912. Her father was a distinguished official in the Treasury. She took a Political Economy degree (MA) inEdinburgh in 1935, and then moved toLondon . She married Raymond Firth in 1936, and accompanied him to Malaya to undertake fieldwork in 1939-1940. She focussed on the domestic economy of the female villagers, resulting in the publication of "Housekeeping among Malay Peasants" in 1943.She worked as a lecturer in health education at the University of London
Institute of Education for many years, whilst continuing her anthropological research interests.Her son Hugh was born in 1946. When her husband was knighted in 1973, Rosemary Firth took the title Lady Firth. She died in 2001. Following her death, Sir Raymond established The Rosemary and Raymond Firth Award in the Department of Anthropology at the
London School of Economics . This award has the specific aim of promoting Rosemary’s interest in 'the anthropology of household management and the organisation of domestic affairs'.elected bibliography
* "Housekeeping among Malay Peasants" (1943)
* 'From Wife to Anthropologist' in "Crossing Cultural Boundaries: The Anthropological Experience" (eds) Solon Kimball and James B Watson San Francisco: Chandler, 10-32 (1972)
* 'The Best Circle: Society, Etiquette and the Season' "Sociology" 8(2):339-340 (1974)
* 'Anthropologists in the Lions' Den?' "Current Anthropology" 17(4):770-771 (1976)
* 'Cooking in a Kelantan Fishing Village, Malaya' in "The Anthropologist’s Cookbook" (ed) Jessica Kuper New York: Universe (1977)
* 'Mad Dogs, Englishmen and the Errant Anthropologist: Field Work in Malaysia' "Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute" 3(4):795-796 (1997)Other sources
* Hardiman, Margaret, 'A memory of Rosemary Firth' "Anthropology Today" 18(1):23 (2002)
External links
* [http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/DO/filmshow/rosemary_firth_fast.htm 20 minute video of an interview with Rosemary Firth]
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