anthropologist

29May

By Web TeamNo Comments

Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Robert M. Laughlin, anthropologist & linguist

Robert Moody Laughlin ‑ an American anthropologist and linguist, and a curator at the Smithsonian Institution – died of Covid-19 on May 28, 2020. His research focused on the indigenous Maya peoples of Chiapas, Mexico and the Tzotzil language. In 1975, he published The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán, containing 30,000 entries. He also published works on other aspects of Tzotzil culture, such as folktales and ethnobotany, and helped to found a local writer's cooperative, Sna Jtz'ibajom, and a theatre troupe. His work is credited with helping to standardize how the Tzotzil language is written and with reviving interest in indigenous languages in the region. Laughlin died of COVID-19 in Arlington, Virginia.

Sylvie Vincent, anthropologist and ethnologist

1May

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Canada, Noteworthy, Profiles

Sylvie Vincent, anthropologist and ethnologist

Sylvie Vincent a Canadian anthropologist and ethnologist died of COVID-19 on 30 April 2020 at the age of 79. Vincent was editor-in-chief of the magazine Recherches amérindiennes au Québec, which she co-founded in the early 1970s. In 1972, she began working with the Innu writer Joséphine Bacon, who helped Vincent as an interpreter. During her various projects, Vincent worked with numerous First Nations tribes of Canada, such as the Cree, the Algonquins, and the Wyandots. Throughout her career, she collaborated with many well-known anthropologists, such as Bernard Arcand, Serge Bouchard, José Mailhot, and Rémi Savard. In 2009, Vincent received the Prix des Dix for her remarkable, personal contribution to the history of the First Nations of Quebec.

29Mar

By Web TeamNo Comments

France, Noteworthy, Profiles

Michel Tibon-Cornillot, anthropologist

Michel Tibon-Cornillot ‑ a French philosopher and anthropologist – passed away on 28 March 2020 due to Covid-19. He directed research at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS). He had an interest in the evolution of technology in the field of biology, leading to his authoring of the book Les Corps transfigurés. Tibon-Cornillot earned an agrégation and a doctorate in philosophy. He was highly interested in mathematics, and his discussions with René Thom led him to the philosophical fields of complexity and chaos. He worked at the Pasteur Institute's bacterial molecular genetics labs. He was also a lecturer in technical anthropology at EHESS. His research in the philosophy of science led him to work on iss...