Maquet (Jacques J. P.) papers, 1939-2001, bulk 1954-1990

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Summary

Title:
Jacques Jerome Pierre Maquet papers
Dates:
1939-2001, bulk 1954-1990
Creators:
Maquet, Jacques Jerome Pierre
Abstract:
Collection documents the academic and research activities of UCLA Professor of Anthropology Jacques Jerome Pierre Maquet and includes: correspondence, course and lecture files, field notes, film, photographic prints and slides, publications, research proposals, speeches and presentations, and subject files. Field notes include Buddhist monastic communities in Sri Lanka (1973-1988); photographic prints document Maquet's field research in the Belgian Congo, Rwanda, and Nigeria (1949-1960), and subsequent visits to India, Japan, and to the Hopi and Mescalero Apache communities in the American Southwest. Maquet's areas of research included: Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist monasticism, aesthetic and symbolic perception in the visual arts, and the anthropology of meditation.
Extent:
6 Linear Feet (15 boxes)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Jacques Jerome Pierre Maquet papers, (Collection 1791). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Background

Scope and content:

The Belgian government established the Institute for Scientific Research in Central Africa in July 1947. The Institute conducted research on human, zoological, and botanical environments of Central Africa. IRSAC, as the Institute was called, was headquartered in Leopoldville and later established five research centers throughout the Belgian dependencies of Belgian Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi:

Kivu Scientific Research Center at Lwiro
Bukavu, Belgian Congo

Rwanda-Burundi Scientific Research Center
Astrida, Rwanda

Tanganika Scientific Research Center
Uvira, Belgian Congo

Scientific Research Center of the Equator, Mabali
Coquilhatville, Belgian Congo

Katanga Scientific Research Center
Elizabethville, Belgian Congo

Jacques Maquet served as Field Anthropologist and Head of the Rwanda-Burundi IRSAC center in Astrida, Rwanda from 1949-1957.

Biographical / historical:

Jacques Jerome Pierre Maquet was born in Brussels, Belgium on August 4, 1919. He completed his diploma in Humanities (Graeco-Latin) in 1937 and later received a PhD (1948) and JD (1949) and PhD from the University of Louvain. While he was at the University of Louvain, Maquet attended Harvard University to study sociology and anthropology under Pitirim A. Sorokin, Clyde Kluckhohn, and Talcott Parsons (1946-1948). From 1948-1952 Maquet attended the University of London and studied social anthropology, with an African specialization, under Cyril Daryll Forde of the Dept. of Anthropology. Maquet received his PhD in social anthropology from the University of London in 1952. In 1973 Maquet recieved a DLit in social sciences from the University of Paris/La Sorbonne.

Maquet held the following positions: field anthropologist (1949-1951) and head (1952-1957) of the Rwanda-Burundi Center at the Institute for Scientific Research in Central Africa (IRSAC) in Butare, Rwanda; Professor of Anthropology, State University of Congo, Lubumashi (Elisabethville), Zaire (Belgian Congo) (1957-1960); Director of Studies, Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes, VIeme Section (economic and social sciences), University of Paris (1961-1968); and Professor of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (1968-1970). In 1970 Maquet became Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), later serving as chair of the department (1978-1983). Maquet retired in 1990 as Professor Emeritus.

Maquet was editor of "Jeune Afrique" (1958-1960); "Other Realities," an anthropological series for Undena Publications (1979-1985); "Linguistic Anthropology" (1980); and "On Symbols in Anthropology" (1982).

Maquet authored many monographs including:
- The Sociology of knowledge; its structure and its relation to the philosophy of knowledge, a critical analysis of the systems of Karl Mannheim and Pitirim A. Sorokin (1951, 1973)
- Aide-memoire d'ethnologie africaine (1954)
- Ruanda: essai photographique sur une societe africaine en transition (1957)
- The premise of inequality in Ruanda: a study of political relations in a central African kingdom (1961)
- Afrique, les civilisations noires: histoire, techniques, arts, societes (1962)
- Power and society in Africa (1971)
- Civilizations of Black Africa (1972)
- Africanity; The cultural unity of Black Africa (1972)
- Introduction to aesthetic anthropology (1979)
- The Aesthetic Experience: an anthropologist looks at the visual arts (1986).

Maquet conducted anthropological field research in Rwanda, Burundi, and Zaire (Congo) from 1949-1960. From 1973-1988 Maquet conducted anthropological field research on Buddhist monasticism in Sri Lanka. Maquet also conducted field research in India, Japan, and visited the Hopi and Mescalero Apache communities in the American Southwest. Maquet's areas of research include: Buddhist monasticism, the aesthetic and symbolic perception in the visual arts, the anthropology of meditation, and Theravada Buddhism.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Jacques Maquet, 2007.
Processing information:

In many cases, spellings used in this finding aid reflect standard English and do not reflect original French spellings. For example, Ruanda (French) is listed as Rwanda (English).

Photographic slides (boxes 1-9) reflect Maquet's original order. Spaces in slide holders indicate a missing slide, as per Maquet's master slide list.

Maquet's numbering system for the photographic slides consists of year followed by slide number. For example, 54/1 indicates that the slide was taken in 1954 and is assigned number 1 within that year.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged in the following series:

  • Series 1: Subject files, 1956-2001
  • Series 2: Photographic materials, 1950-1993
  • Series 3: Publications, 1939-1996

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by C. B. Brown; Shilpa Rele.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2020-02-12 12:10:02 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Copyright to portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library Special Collections. The library can grant permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Library Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: The Regents of the University of California on behalf of the UCLA Library Special Collections.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Jacques Jerome Pierre Maquet papers, (Collection 1791). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website