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{{Short description|American anthropologist (1920–2014)}}
{{Medical anthropology}}
'''Melford Elliot Spiro''' (April 26, 1920 -&ndash; October 18, 2014) iswas an American [[cultural anthropologist]] specializing in religion and [[psychological anthropology]]. He is known for his critiques of the pillars of contemporary anthropological theory—wholesale [[cultural determinism]], radical [[cultural relativism]], and virtually limitless [[cultural diversity—anddiversity]]—and for his emphasis on the theoretical importance of unconscious desires and beliefs in the study of stability and change in social and cultural systems, particularly in respect to the family, politics, and religion. Explicated in numerous theoretical publications, they are empirically exemplified in monographs based on his fieldwork in [[Ifaluk]] atoll in [[Micronesia]], an Israeli [[kibbutz]],<ref>Spiro, andMelford aE.(1956) village''Kibbutz:Venture in Burma (now Myanmar)Utopia''. HeCambridge: wasHarvard aUniversity significantPress.{{page figureneeded|date=October in2018}}</ref><ref>Spiro, aMelford seriesE.(1958) ''Children of debatesthe overKibbutz''. [[culturalCambridge: relativism]]Harvard andUniversity postmodernPress.{{page theoryneeded|date=October among2018}}</ref> Americanand culturala anthropologistsvillage in theBurma 1980s(now and early 1990sMyanmar).<ref>Spiro, inMelford whichE. he(1971) consistently''Buddhism arguedand forSociety: theA importanceGreat ofTradition theand comparativeits methodBurmese andVicissitudes''. theNew appreciationYork: ofHarper universaland culturalRow.{{page andneeded|date=October psychological processes.2018}}</ref>▼
{{Anthropology of religion}}
{{no footnotes|date=February 2013}}
▲'''Melford Elliot Spiro''' (April 26, 1920 - October 18, 2014) is an American [[cultural anthropologist]] specializing in religion and [[psychological anthropology]]. He is known for his critiques of the pillars of contemporary anthropological theory—wholesale cultural determinism, radical cultural relativism, and virtually limitless cultural diversity—and for his emphasis on the theoretical importance of unconscious desires and beliefs in the study of stability and change in social and cultural systems, particularly in respect to the family, politics, and religion. Explicated in numerous theoretical publications, they are empirically exemplified in monographs based on his fieldwork in [[Ifaluk]] atoll in [[Micronesia]], an Israeli [[kibbutz]], and a village in Burma (now Myanmar). He was a significant figure in a series of debates over [[cultural relativism]] and postmodern theory among American cultural anthropologists in the 1980s and early 1990s, in which he consistently argued for the importance of the comparative method and the appreciation of universal cultural and psychological processes.
 
He was a significant figure in a series of debates over [[cultural relativism]] and postmodern theory among American cultural anthropologists in the 1980s and early 1990s, in which he consistently argued for the importance of the comparative method and the appreciation of universal cultural and psychological processes.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1525/can.1986.1.3.02a00010 |title=Cultural Relativism and the Future of Anthropology |journal=Cultural Anthropology |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=259–286 |year=1986 |last1=Spiro |first1=Melford E. |s2cid=145249843 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1525/eth.1993.21.2.02a00010 |title=Is the Western Conception of the Self 'Peculiar' within the Context of the World Cultures? |journal=Ethos |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=107–153 |year=1993 |last1=Spiro |first1=Melford E. }}</ref>
Spiro received his B.A. from the University of Minnesota, where he majored in philosophy, following which he studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. Having developed an interest in culture theory, he explored this interest by enrolling in the anthropology department at Northwestern University, where he worked with [[Melville Herskovits]] and A. Irving Hallowell, and received his PhD in 1950. He taught at Washington University (St Louis), University of Connecticut, University of Washington, and University of Chicago before moving In 1968 to the University of California, San Diego where he was invited to found the department of anthropology. He has been professor emeritus there since 1990. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was one of the founders of ETHOS and was president of the American Ethnological Society and the Society for Psychological Anthropology.▼
 
▲Spiro received his B.A. from the [[University of Minnesota]] in 1942,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Melford E. Spiro papers {{!}} Collection {{!}} search=null {{!}} SOVA |url=https://sova.si.edu/record/NAA.2015-04 |access-date=2022-08-21 |website=sova.si.edu}}</ref> where he majored in philosophy,<ref name="D'Andrade 2015">{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.1500172112 |pmid=25675524 |pmc=4343101 |title=Melford E. Spiro, 1920–2014 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=112 |issue=7 |pages=1915–1916 |year=2015 |last1=d'Andrade |first1=Roy G. |bibcode=2015PNAS..112.1915D |doi-access=free }}</ref> following which he studied at the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America|Jewish Theological Seminary]] in New York City. Having developed an interest in culture theory, he explored this interest bythrough enrolling in the anthropology department at [[Northwestern University]], where he worked with [[Melville Herskovits]] and [[A. Irving Hallowell]], and received his PhD in 1950. He taught at [[Washington University (in St. Louis)]], [[University of Connecticut]], [[University of Washington]], and [[University of Chicago]] before moving In 1968 to the [[University of California, San Diego]] where he was inviteda tofounding foundmember of the department of anthropology. He has been professor emeritus there since 1990department. He isreceived apostgraduate membertraining ofin the[[psychoanalysis]] National Academy of Sciences andat the AmericanSan AcademyDiego Psychoanalytic of ArtsCenter and Sciences.practiced Heas wasa onelay ofanalyst,<ref thename="D'Andrade founders2015"/> ofadditionally ETHOSoverseeing anda wascourse presidentseries ofat theUCSD Americanthat Ethnologicalexposed Societygraduate andstudents thein Societyanthropology forto Psychologicalpsychiatric Anthropologytraining.
==References==▼
 
Spiro became professor emeritus at UCSD in 1990, but continued teaching for another decade. He was a member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] and the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]. He served terms as president of the [[American Ethnological Society]] and the [[Society for Psychological Anthropology]] (SPA) and was one of the founders of the SPA's journal, ''Ethos''.
* Darnell, Regna (2006) "Keeping the Faith: A Legacy of Native American Ethnography, Ethnohistory, and Psychology." In: ''New Perspectives on Native North America: Cultures, Histories, and Representations,'' ed. by Sergei A. Kan and Pauline Turner Strong, pp.&nbsp;3–16. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.▼
 
* Kilborne, Benjamin, and L.L. Langness, eds. (1987) ''Culture and human nature: Theoretical papers of Melford E. Spiro''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.▼
Mel Spiro was married for 62 years to Audrey Spiro, with whom he had two sons.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/melford_e._spiro_department_of_anthropology_founder_dies | title=Melford e. Spiro, Department of Anthropology Founder, Dies }}</ref> He died in [[La Jolla, CA]], in October 2014 of natural causes.<ref name="D'Andrade 2015"/>
 
==Select bibliography==
*Spiro, Melford E. (1956) "''Kibbutz:Venture in Utopia''." Cambridge:Harvard University Press.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1958) "''Children of the Kibbutz"''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1967) "''Burmese Supernaturalism:A Study in the Explanation and Resolution of Suffering''." Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:Prentice Hall.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1971) "''Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and its Burmese Vicissitudes''." New York: Harper and Row.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1977) "''Kinship and Marriage in Burma:A Cultural and Psychodynamic Analysis''." Los Angeles:University of California Press.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1979) "''Gender and Culture:Kibbutz Women Revisited''." Durham, N.C.:Duke University Press.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1982) "''[[Oedipus in the Trobriands]]''." Chicago:University of Chicago Press.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1987) "''Culture and Human Nature: Theoretical Papers of Melford E.Spiro''." Benjamin Kilborne and L.L. Langness, eds.Chicago:University of Chicago Press.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1992) "''Anthropological Other or Burmese Brother? Studies in Cultural Analysis''." New Brunswick (USA): Transaction Publishers.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1997) "''Gender Ideology and Psychological Reality:An Essay on Cultural Reproduction''." New Haven:Yale University Press.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1984) "Some Reflections on Cultural Determinism and Relativism with Special Reference to Emotion and Reason.". pp.&nbsp;323–346 in ''Culture Theory: essays on mind, self, and emotion'', edited by R. A. Shweder and R. A. LeVine. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.▼
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1525/can.1986.1.3.02a00010 |title=Cultural Relativism and the Future of Anthropology |journal=Cultural Anthropology |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=259–286 |year=1986 |last1=Spiro |first1=Melford E. |s2cid=145249843 }}
*Spiro, Melford E. (1987) "Religious systems as culturally constituted defense mechanisms.". pp.&nbsp;145–160 in ''Culture and human nature: theoretical papers of Melford E. Spiro'', edited by B. Kilborne and L. L. Langness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.▼
*Spiro, Melford E. (1992) "On the strange and familiar in recent anthropological thought.". pp.&nbsp;53–70 in ''Anthropological Other or Burmese Brother?'' edited by M. E. Spiro. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press.▼
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1525/eth.1993.21.2.02a00010 |title=Is the Western Conception of the Self 'Peculiar' within the Context of the World Cultures? |journal=Ethos |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=107–153 |year=1993 |last1=Spiro |first1=Melford E. }}
* Kilborne, Benjamin, and L.L. Langness, eds. (1987 ''Culture and human nature: Theoretical papers of Melford E. Spiro''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.▼
 
▲==References==
▲*Spiro, Melford E. (1984) "Some Reflections on Cultural Determinism and Relativism with Special Reference to Emotion and Reason." pp.&nbsp;323–346 in ''Culture Theory: essays on mind, self, and emotion'', edited by R. A. Shweder and R. A. LeVine. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
{{Reflist}}
*Spiro, Melford E. (1986) "Cultural Relativism and the Future of Anthropology." Cultural Anthropology: Vol. 1, No. 3, 259-286.
▲*Spiro, Melford E. (1987) "Religious systems as culturally constituted defense mechanisms." pp.&nbsp;145–160 in ''Culture and human nature: theoretical papers of Melford E. Spiro'', edited by B. Kilborne and L. L. Langness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
▲*Spiro, Melford E. (1992) "On the strange and familiar in recent anthropological thought." pp.&nbsp;53–70 in ''Anthropological Other or Burmese Brother?'' edited by M. E. Spiro. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press.
*Spiro, Melford E. (1993) "Is the Western conception of the self "peculiar" within the context of the world cultures?" ''Ethos'' 21:107 - 153.
 
==Further reading==
▲* Kilborne, Benjamin, and L.L. Langness, eds. (1987 ''Culture and human nature: Theoretical papers of Melford E. Spiro''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
▲* Darnell, Regna (2006) "Keeping the Faith: A Legacy of Native American Ethnography, Ethnohistory, and Psychology.". In: ''New Perspectives on Native North America: Cultures, Histories, and Representations,'' ed. by Sergei A. Kan and Pauline Turner Strong, pp.&nbsp;3–16. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
▲* Kilborne, Benjamin, and L.L. Langness, eds. (1987) ''Culture and human nature: Theoretical papers of Melford E. Spiro''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
*[http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/melford_e._spiro_department_of_anthropology_founder_dies Melford Spiro's obituary]
 
==External links==
*[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/spiro-melford.pdf Kevin Avruch, "Melford E. Spiro", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)]
*[http://appbio.net/biographies/Spiro-%20Melford%20Elliot-6304.html]
 
{{Authority control|VIAF=24685271}}
 
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Spiro, Melford
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American anthropologist
| DATE OF BIRTH = April 26, 1920
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiro, Melford}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:Living2014 peopledeaths]]
[[Category:American anthropologists]]
[[Category:University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Northwestern University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]▼
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]▼
[[Category:University of California, San Diego faculty]]
[[Category:Psychological anthropologists]]
[[Category:Anthropologists of religion]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:GuggenheimAmerican Fellowscritics of postmodernism]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty]]
▲[[Category:University of PennsylvaniaConnecticut alumnifaculty]]
[[Category:University of Washington faculty]]
▲[[Category:Harvard University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:Cultural anthropologists]]
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