| Michael Garfield Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1921 |
| Died | 1993 |
| Nationality | Jamaican |
| Education | Jamaica College McGill University University College, London (Ph.D in social anthropology) |
| Employer | Franklin M. Crosby Professor Emeritus of the Human Environment, Yale University Senior Research Fellow, Research Institute for the Study of Man, and Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles Professor and Head of the Department of Anthropology, University College, London |
| Known for | Poet and social anthropologist |
| Spouse | Mary F. Smith (née Morrison) |
| Awards | Wellcome Medal for Anthropological Research Curle Bequest Essay Prize Amaury Book Prize (Royal Anthropological Institute) Order of Merit (Jamaica 1972) |
Michael Garfield Smith OM (1921 - 1993) was a Jamaican poet and social anthropologist. Smith was the son of a descendant of English army officers and merchants, and his mother a 'coloured' nurse who died in childbirth. Smith served as Franklin M. Crosby Professor Emeritus of the Human Environment at Yale University. He also served as Senior Research Fellow at the Research Institute for the Study of Man, and the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies (Jamaica); Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles ; and as Professor and Head of the Department of Anthropology, University College, London where he was one of the first professors of colour in Anthropology.
Born in Jamaica, Smith was educated at Jamaica College, one of the island's leading secondary schools, and at McGill University and University College, London, which awarded him the Ph.D in social anthropology. He carried out extensive field research in Northern Nigeria, Jamaica, Grenada, and Carriacou.
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Smith was married to the anthropologist Mary F. Smith (née Morrison), with whom he had three sons.[1][2][3]
A prolific writer, he authored or co-authored numerous books and articles on theory, on Northern Nigeria, and on the West Indies.
Baba of Karo (1954)
Government in Zazzau, 1800-1950 (1960)
West Indian Family Structure (1962)
Kinship and Community in Carriacou (1962),
Dark Puritan (1963)
The Plural Society in the British West Indies (1965)
Stratification in Grenada (1965)
Pluralism in Africa (1969)
Corporations and Society: The Social Anthropology of Collective Action (1974)
The Affairs of Daura (1978)
Pluralism, Politics & Ideology in the Creole Caribbean (1991)
Government in Kano, 1350-1950 (1997)
The Study of Social Structure, (1998)
Education and Society in the Creole Caribbean (2008 - posthumously by the Comitas Institute for Anthropological Study
I saw my land in the morning
Among his awards are the Wellcome Medal for Anthropological Research, the Curle Bequest Essay Prize, and the Amaury Book Prize from the Royal Anthropological Institute. In 1972, Jamaica bestowed upon him its Order of Merit.