Nadel, Siegfried Frederick (1903-1956)
Siegfried F. Nadel (1903-1956), an Austrian anthropologist of Jewish origin, became a prominent member of the British functionalist school. In the 1930s, he joined Malinowski’s cohort of protégés who went to Africa under the aegis of the International African Institute. Major monographs resulted, such as A Black Byzantium (1942) and The Nuba (1947). While Nadel supported an anthropology in Africa that was concerned about the fate of the colonized, his attitude was of lesser engagement at the Australian National University, where he inaugurated the chair of anthropology in 1951. An original ethnographer and theorist, he occupies a place of secundus inter pares in the history of British social anthropology.
Keywords: Applied anthropology | Social anthropology | Functionalism | British colonialism | 20th century | North Sudan/South Sudan | Nigeria | Australia | Nuba | Nupe | Political systems | Social structure | Bronislaw Malinowski | International African Institute
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“ ‘A Figure of Importance’. Life and Work of Siegfried Frederick Nadel”
Geoffrey Gray, 2018
Explaining his decision to write-up Nadel’s field notes and diaries of his early fieldwork in the Nupe kingdom, anthropologist Peter Loizos underlined the place of Nadel in British anthropology: ‘In Nadel’s case, we are dealing with a figure of importance. While he has not received the kind of (…)
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« ‘Une figure d’importance’. Vie et œuvre de Siegfried Frederick Nadel »
Geoffrey Gray, 2019
Expliquant sa décision de transcrire les notes de terrain de Nadel et les journaux de ses premiers travaux sur le terrain dans le royaume des Nupe, l’anthropologue Peter Loizos souligne la place de Nadel dans l’anthropologie britannique : « Dans le cas de Nadel, nous avons affaire à une figure (…)
Secondary sources
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“Professor S. F. Nadel”
John Derek Freeman, 1956
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“Siegfried Frederick Nadel, 1903-1956”
John Derek Freeman, 1956
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“Obituary: Siegfried Frederick Stephen Nadel”
Daryll Forde, 1956
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“Siegfried Frederick Nadel, 1903-1956”
Raymond Firth, 1957
Primary sources
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