Descriptive Summary
Restrictions
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Biography
Publication Rights
Scope and Content of Collection
Digital Content
Descriptive Summary
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Stephen Leavitt Collection
Creator:
Leavitt, Stephen C., 1959-
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0027
Physical Description:
4.0 Linear feet
(5 archives boxes and 11 card file boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1984 - 1989
Abstract: Ethnographic fieldnotes, audio cassette recordings (1984-1986), and slides 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.
Languages:
English
.
Restrictions
The collection may only be used with the written permission of Stephen Leavitt. Original sound recordings are restricted.
Listening copies may be available for researchers.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 1993.
Preferred Citation
Stephen Leavitt Collection, MSS 27. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Biography
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.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Stephen Leavitt Collection documents ethnographic research conducted among the Bumbita Arapesh people of East Sepik Province,
Papua New Guinea, which formed the core of Leavitt's doctoral dissertation in anthropology at UC San Diego.
Arranged in three series: 1) FIELDNOTES & IMAGES, 2) TRANSCRIPTIONS OF RECORDINGS, and 3) RECORDINGS.
Digital Content
Sound recordings from this collection have been digitized. Please request sound recordings directly from the finding aid for
access facilitated through the Library's virtual reading room service.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Papua New Guinea -- Social life and customs
Ethnology -- Papua New Guinea -- East Sepik Province
Anthropology -- Melanesia
Anthropology -- Oceania
Leavitt, Stephen C., 1959- -- Archives