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| Lauriston Sharp | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lauriston Sharp |
| Birth date | 1893-05-30 |
| Birth place | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Death date | 1976-03-22 |
| Death place | Ithaca, New York |
| Occupation | Anthropologist, academic |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College, Columbia University |
| Employer | Cornell University |
Lauriston Sharp was a prominent American anthropologist and academic administrator whose work influenced the study of Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, and museum studies in the mid‑20th century. He played a central role in founding institutional programs at Cornell University and in training generations of scholars who contributed to research on Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan. Sharp's fieldwork, editorial leadership, and program building linked anthropological practice to wartime policy efforts and postwar area studies initiatives.
Sharp was born in Cleveland, Ohio and educated at Oberlin College where he studied liberal arts before pursuing graduate work at Columbia University under scholars affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History and the emerging American anthropological community. At Columbia he encountered influential figures such as Franz Boas‑era students and mentors connected to the Boasian anthropology tradition and to comparative studies in the Pacific Islands. His doctoral training combined ethnographic methods, museum curation techniques associated with the Smithsonian Institution, and an interest in material culture that anticipated later museum anthropology programs.
Sharp joined the faculty of Cornell University where he served as professor and became an influential departmental leader in anthropology and Asian studies. At Cornell he collaborated with colleagues from the Department of History, the Department of Economics (Cornell) (note institutional link), and the emerging community of scholars associated with the World War II research mobilization. Sharp held visiting fellowships and consultancies with institutions such as the American Council of Learned Societies, the Office of Strategic Services, and the United States Department of State, integrating academic research with governmental area studies efforts. He also served on editorial boards for journals connected to the American Anthropological Association and regional commissions concerned with Southeast Asian Studies.
Sharp conducted extensive fieldwork in the Philippines, Taiwan, and in parts of Thailand and the Maluku Islands (Moluccas), focusing on material culture, kinship, and community change. His research engaged with local institutions such as traditional crafts guilds and regional markets, and drew on comparative collections in museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum. Sharp's ethnographic reports informed wartime assessments by the Office of Naval Intelligence and postwar reconstruction planning linked to the United Nations and regional development agencies. He trained students who did fieldwork in Indonesia, Japan, Cambodia, and Laos, thereby shaping a generation of scholars active in programs at University of Hawaii at Manoa, Cornell University, and elsewhere.
Sharp was a principal architect of the Cornell Southeast Asia Program (SEAP), working with colleagues from the Department of Asian Studies and with external funders including the Ford Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation to build an interdisciplinary research and training center. He coordinated exchanges with institutions such as Chulalongkorn University, University of the Philippines, and Gadjah Mada University to promote language training, area studies fellowships, and collaborative field projects. Under Sharp's leadership SEAP became linked to federal initiatives for area expertise, collaborating with agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense on language and cultural instruction during the Cold War era.
Sharp authored monographs and edited volumes on material culture, craft systems, and applied anthropology, contributing to journals published by the American Anthropological Association and presses including Cornell University Press. His writings addressed the interpretation of artifacts in museum contexts, comparative method in Pacific studies, and the role of anthropology in policymaking, engaging theoretical currents represented by scholars such as Bronisław Malinowski, Alfred Kroeber, and later critics in the postwar anthropological debate. Sharp's edited collections and bibliographic work helped consolidate bibliographies and research agendas for Southeast Asian and Pacific scholarship, and his methodological guides informed training at institutions including the American Museum of Natural History and regional university presses.
Sharp received honors from academic societies including the American Anthropological Association and awards from foundations such as the Guggenheim Foundation for his research and institutional work. His legacy persists in the continued prominence of the Cornell Southeast Asia Program, in museum anthropology curricula at the Smithsonian Institution and major university museums, and in the careers of students who became leaders at institutions like Yale University, University of Michigan, Australian National University, and University of California, Berkeley. Archives of his papers and fieldnotes are preserved in university special collections and continue to be used by scholars in contemporary debates about anthropology's relationship to policy, regional studies, and museum practice.
Category:American anthropologists Category:Cornell University faculty Category:1893 births Category:1976 deaths