Francis John Heathorn Huxley (28 August 1923 – 29 October 2016)[1] was a British zoologist, anthropologist and author. With a short professional career at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, he is most well known for his several anthropological expeditions to Gambia, Amazon, and Haiti, among other places, from which he wrote several notable books.
Francis Huxley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 August 1923 Holywell, Oxford, England |
| Died | 29 October 2016 (aged 93) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Dauntsey's School |
| Alma mater | Oxford University |
| Known for | Founding Survival International |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Zoology, anthropology |
| Institutions | St Catherine’s College, Oxford |
Early life and education
editHuxley was the younger son of Julian Huxley and Juliette (née Baillot). His brother Anthony became a botanist and scientific author.[2] Born at the time when his father was a Fellow at New College, Oxford, and a Senior Demonstrator of zoology,[3] he grew up in Oxford. As his father moved to King's College London, in 1925, to become professor of zoology,[4] he spent the rest of his childhood in London. At age two, he entered a preparatory school at Byron House, but soon started to develop severe ill health, catching almost very illness, including Bell’s palsy, whooping cough and eye infection.[5] in 1933, he started elementary education at Frensham Heights School in Farnham, Surrey. Between 1937 and 1942, he studied at Gordonstoun School in Elgin, Scotland. He was briefly evacuated to Wales in 1939 as the World War II began.[5]
Service in World War II and higher education
editIn 1942, Huxley joined the Royal Navy and serve there through the war. He was Assistant Navigating Officer on HMS Ramilles, on D-Day, 6 June 1944. His ship was in preparation for invasion of Japan when the first atomic bombs devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 that led to the end of the war.[6] Around that time he met Claude Lévi-Strauss, a sociologist and a fighter in the French resistance,[7] who later became his motivation in anthropology.
After the war, in 1947, Huxley enrolled for a course in zoology at Balliol College, Oxford. He completed the course with 2nd class honours in 1948. At the same time he joined the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland,[5] which his great-grandfather, Thomas Huxley co-founded in 1871.[8] Then, he took up social anthropology at the University of Oxford, earning his master's degree in 1950. Influenced by his teachers Meyer Fortes and Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard to continue PhD research, he went on an exploration of Amazonian tribes in Brazil in November 1950, under a joint project from the British Council and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. He spent most of 1951 with Brazilian anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro among the Ka'apor people. He returned to Brazil in 1953 for a study funded by the Brazilian government, and lived among the Ka'apor people alone from February to July. Back to England, he became Curator of Ethnography at the City of Liverpool Public Museum from 1954 to 1955.[5] He wrote an account of his experience in Affable Savages, published in 1956.[9]
He was one of the founders of Survival International.[1]
Works
edit- Affable Savages: An Anthropologist Among the Urubu Indians of Brazil. Viking, New York, 1957 [1956], ISBN 978-1879215276
- The Invisibles: Voodoo Gods in Haiti. Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1966
- The Way Of The Sacred. Doubleday, New York, 1974
- Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge, New York 2001, edited by Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley ISBN 1-58542-091-3
- The Raven and the Writing Desk, an exploration of the writings of Lewis Carroll, in the Alice books, Harper & Row, New York, 1976
References
edit- ^ a b Napier, A. David. "Francis Huxley obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
- ^ Wheeler, David (4 January 1993). "Obituary: Anthony Huxley". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
- ^ Needham, Joseph (1 March 1975). "Huxley remembered". Nature. 254 (5495): 2–3. doi:10.1038/254002b0. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ^ Whitman, Alden (16 February 1975). "Julian Huxley, Scientist and Writer, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Life stream of Francis Huxley". Francis Huxley and the Human Condition (in German). Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ Zuberi, Matin (2001). "Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki". Strategic Analysis. 25 (5): 623–662. doi:10.1080/09700160108458986. ISSN 0970-0161.
- ^ Rutkoff, Peter M.; Scott, William B. (1983). "The French in New York: Resistance and Structure". Social Research. 50 (1): 185–214. ISSN 0037-783X.
- ^ "T. H. Huxley as Anthropologist". Nature. 136 (3448): 863–863. 1 November 1935. doi:10.1038/136863b0. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ^ Holmberg, Allan R. (1958). "Affable Savages: An Anthropologist Among the Urubu Indians of Brazil . Francis Huxley". American Anthropologist. 60 (2): 388–389. doi:10.1525/aa.1958.60.2.02a00220. ISSN 0002-7294.