Ethnographic fieldnotes and audio cassette recordings (1984-1986) created by Stephen Leavitt, American anthropologist and researcher in Melanesian culture. Included are fieldnotes, tape recorded interviews, interview transcripts, census materials, and Arapesh language materials related to the ethnography of the Bumbita Arapesh people of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.

Stephen Christopher Leavitt (1959- ), American anthropologist, graduated with a B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1981. He attended the University of California, San Diego, where he earned his doctorate in anthropology in 1989. His dissertation, entitled CARGO, CHRIST, AND NOSTALGIA FOR THE DEAD: THEMES OF INTIMACY AND ABANDONMENT IN BUMBITA ARAPESH SOCIAL EXPERIENCE, was based on fieldwork in Papua New Guinea from 1984-1986, for which he received a Fulbright Research Grant. While in the field, Leavitt worked closely with Professor Donald F. Tuzin, whose own work centered on the neighboring Ilahita Arapesh. In 1989, Leavitt received a Rockefeller Fellowship in the Humanities, which supported his residence at the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaii. Since then, he has taught at Washington University (St. Louis) and, currently, at Union College (Schenectady). His work has been published in ETHOS, ETHNOLOGY, SOCIAL SCIENCE AND MEDICINE, and THE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOHISTORY. Leavitt is married to anthropologist Karen Brison, who also conducted fieldwork in the East Sepik Province with the Gawanga people.

3.6 Linear feet 4 archives boxes and 11 card file boxes

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

The collection may only be used with the written permission of Stephen Leavitt. Also, audio recordings in Series 3 are restricted; researchers must request user copies be produced. For more information contact the Mandeville Special Collections Library.