Professor Richard Fardon
BSc (Econ) PhD (London) FBA
Overview
Department of Anthropology and Sociology
(Professor of West African Anthropology)
Ethnographically, the anthropology of West Africa in general, with a particular focus on the ‘Middle Belt’ of Nigeria and Cameroon. Ethnographic interests, both contemporary and historical, include: politics and religion; ethnicity and identity; material culture. Anthropologically, contemporary theories in social anthropology, and the history of twentieth-century British social anthropology.Contact Details
- Name:
- Professor Richard Fardon
- Email address:
- rf@soas.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- 020 7898 4406
- Address:
- School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG - Building:
- Russell Square: College Buildings
- Office No:
- 555
Interests / Disciplines
In addition to teaching courses in anthropological theory and the ethnography of West Africa to BA and MA students in the department, I am currently Head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology. From 2002-2007, I edited AFRICA, the journal of the International African Institute. Among other past functions: I was twice Chairman of the Centre of African Studies in the University of London (1993-97 and 2001-05), and served a term as Chair of the Association of Social Anthropologists (2001-05). I am currently a Vice-President of the Royal Anthropological Institute.Teaching
Students supervised
Courses Taught
Research
One strand of my recent research has used as a springboard the material culture in the middle-belt regions of Cameroon and Nigeria, West Africa, which I began to visit in the mid-1970s. These investigations combined museum and archival resources with my own ethnography for a two volume account of ‘Chamba arts in context’: the first part of this project, on figurative statues co-authored with Christine Stelzig, appeared in 2005 (Column to Volume: Formal Innovation in Chamba Statuary, London: Saffron Afriscopes); the second volume, a broad comparison of masquerades in the Middle Belt, followed in 2007 (Fusions: Masquerades and Thought Style East of the Niger-Benue Confluence, West Africa, London: Saffron Afriscopes). This research has been widened for my current collaboration in a major exhibition on the arts of the entire Benue Valley that will open in the Fowler Museum (UCLA) in 2010, before travelling to Washington and New York, as well as Paris and probably other European venues.
In similar vein is an historical account of the ceremony called Lela which Chamba emigrants introduced to the Grassfields of Cameroon during the nineteenth century (2006 Lela: History through Ceremony in Cameroon, Oxford: Berghahn Cameroon Studies Volume 7). Lela developed into a festival of regional significance on which there are photographic resources stretching back a century. Working intensively with illustrative materials, as well as objects in both museum and private collections, has proved an enjoyable challenge.
My interests have always embraced anthropological theory and the ethnography of West Africa, and in both cases I have been interested equally in past and present. My initial fieldwork in the mid-1970s was the basis of my doctorate, and further research led to a pair of monographs written during the 1980s respectively on politics and religion among Chamba-speakers of Nigeria and Cameroon. Because of its importance to my ethnography, I became particularly interested in ethnicity and identity at that time, writing more generally on that topic. Currently, my periodic research visits concentrate on post-colonial elite formation.
During the 1990s I worked most intensively on the twentieth-century history of British social anthropology, particularly on the biographies of the anthropologists Mary Douglas and Franz Baermann Steiner. My contemporary theoretical and ethnographic interests have often been explored through conferences and edited books on topics including: power and knowledge, ethnographic writing, global and local perspectives in anthropological theory, and, with specific reference to Africa, languages and development, radio, consumption and modernity. My current research students are working on a variety of issues (including everday Islam, Vodun, urban youth, refugees, transportation …) in Bénin, Ghana, and Mali.
Expertise
For help in contacting SOAS academics and advice on services to business and the community, please contact SOAS Enterprise on 020 7898 4837 or email interface@soas.ac.uk.
For all press and media enquiries please call 020 7898 4956 or email jf51@soas.ac.uk
Available for
- Press
- Briefings
Regional Expertise
- Africa
Country Expertise
- Cameroon
- Nigeria
Languages
Publications
Authored Books
Fardon , Richard (2007) Fusions: Masquerades and Thought-Style East of the Niger-Benue Confluence, West Africa. Saffron Afriscopes Series. Saffron Press.
Fardon, Richard (2006) Lela in Bali: History through Ceremony in Cameroon. Oxford: Berghahn.
Fardon, Richard and Stelzig, Christine (2005) Column to volume: formal innovation in Chamba statuary. Saffron Afriscopes: illustrated arguments about African culture. London: Saffron Books.
Fardon, Richard (1999) Mary Douglas: an Intellectual Biography. London; New York: Routledge.
Fardon, Richard (1999) Contrast and comparison : notes from a middle-belt West African practice. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
Fardon, Richard (1990) Between God, the dead and the wild: Chamba interpretations of religion and ritual. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute.
Fardon, Richard (1988) Raiders and refugees: trends in Chamba political development, 1750-1950. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Edited Books
Alder, Jeremy and Fardon , Richard and Tully, Carol, eds. (2003) From Prague Poet to Oxford Anthropologist: Franz Baermann Steiner Celebrated - essays and translations. Munich: Ludicium; London: London Institute of Germanic Studies.
Fardon, Richard and Furniss, Graham, eds. (2000) African Broadcast Cultures: Radio in Transition. Oxford: J. Currey; Westport, Conn.: Praeger; Cape Town: David Philip; Harare: Baobab.
Fardon , Richard and van Binsbergen , Wim and van Dijk, Rijk, eds. (1999) Modernity on a shoestring : dimensions of globalization, consumption and development in Africa and beyond : based on an EIDOS conference held at The Hague, 13-16 March 1997. Leiden: EIDOS in association with the African Studies Centre Leiden and the Centre of African Studies London.
Fardon , Richard and Adler, Jeremy, eds. (1999) Franz Baermann Steiner: Selected Writings. Vol. 1, Taboo, truth and religion. Oxford; New York: Berghahn.
Fardon , Richard and Adler, Jeremy, eds. (1999) Franz Baermann Steiner: Selected Writings. Vol. 2, Orientpolitik, Value and Civilisation. Oxford; New York: Berghahn.
Fardon , Richard, ed. (1995) Counterworks: managing the diversity of knowledge. London; New York: Routledge.
Fardon , Richard and Furniss, Graham, eds. (1994) African Languages, Development and the State. London: Routledge.
Fardon , Richard and Baxter, Paul, eds. (1991) Voice, genre, text: anthropological essays in Africa and beyond. Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 73(3). ISSN 0301-102X. Manchester : John Rylands University Library.
Fardon , Richard, ed. (1990) Localizing strategies : regional traditions of ethnographic writing. Edinburgh : Scottish Academic Press; Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Fardon , Richard, ed. (1985) Power and knowledge: anthropological and sociological approaches. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.
Chapters in Books
Fardon , Richard (2008) 'Cosmopolitan nations, national cosmopolitans.' In: Werbner , Pnina, (ed.), Anthropology and the New Cosmopolitanism: rooted, feminist and vernacular perspectives. Association of Social Anthropologists monographs series; 45. Oxford: Berg, pp. 233-259.
Fardon, Richard (2005) 'A Tiger in an African Palace.' In: James, W. and Mills, D., (eds.), The Qualities of Time: Anthropological Approaches. Association of Social Anthropologists monographs series; 41. Oxford: Berg, pp. 73-93.
Fardon , Richard (2004) 'Turner, Victor Witter (1920–1983).' In: Matthew, H.C.G. and Harrison, Brian, (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Furniss, Graham and Fardon , Richard (2000) 'African broadcast cultures.' In: African Broadcast Cultures: Radio in Transition. Oxford: James Currey, pp. 1-20.
Fardon , Richard and Boyd, Raymond (2000) 'Sauvé par un chanson: patriarchie et experience dans les versions Tchamba de <<La Fille Difficile>>.' In: Seydou , Christiane and Görög, Veronika, (eds.), La fille difficile: un conte-type africain. Paris: CNRS.
Fardon , Richard (1999) 'Ethnic pervasion.' In: Allen, Tim and Seaton , Jean, (eds.), The Media in Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence. London: Zed, pp. 64-80.
Fardon , Richard (1999) 'Consumption and identification: the question of public goods.' In: Fardon , Richard and van Binsbergen , Wim and van Dijk, Rijk, (eds.), Modernity on a Shoestring: Dimensions of Globalization, Consumption and Development in Africa and Beyond. Leiden: EIDOS in association with the African Studies Centre Leiden and the Centre of African Studies London, pp. 401-416.
Fardon , Richard (1993) 'Alliance et ethnicité: un système regional de l’Adamawa.' In: Héritier-Augé, Françoise and Copet-Rougier, Elisabeth, (eds.), Les Complexités de l’Alliance, Volume III Economie, politique et fondements symboliques (Afrique). Paris: Editions des Archives contemporaines, pp. 165-210.
Fardon , Richard (1992) 'Post modern anthropology? Or, an anthropology of post-modernity.' In: Doherty, J. and Graham, E. and Malek, M., (eds.), Post-modernism and the Social Sciences. London: Macmillan, pp. 33-47.
Fardon , Richard and Davies, Catherine (1991) 'African fictions in representations of West African and Afro-Cuban culture.' In: Fardon , R. and Baxter, P., (eds.), Voice, Genre, Text - Anthropological Essays in Africa and Beyond. Special Issue of the Bulletin of the John Ryland’s University Library of Manchester, 73 (3). John Rylands University Library, pp. 125-145.
Fardon , Richard (1987) 'African Ethnogenesis: limits to the comparability of ethnic phenomena.' In: Holy, L., (ed.), Comparative Anthropology. London: Basil Blackwell, pp. 168-188.
Articles
Fardon , Richard and Iyenda, Guillaume (2007) 'Dame Mary Douglas (1921-2007) with bibliographic supplement.' Anthropology Today, 23 (5). pp. 25-27.
Fardon , Richard (1996) '<< Destins croisés >> : histoires des identités ethniques et nationales en Afrique de l’Ouest.' Politique Africaine, 61 . pp. 75-97.
Fardon , Richard and Boyd, Raymond (1992) 'Bisiweeri: the songs and times of a Muslim Chamba woman.' African Languages and Cultures, 5 (1). pp. 11-41.
Fardon , Richard (1990) 'Malinowski's Precedent: The Imagination of Equality.' Man (New Series), 25 (4). pp. 569-587.
Fardon , Richard (1985) 'Sisters, wives, wards and daughters: a transformational account of the political organisation of the Tiv and their neighbours, Part Two: ‘The neighbours’.' Africa, 55 (1). pp. 77-91.
Fardon , Richard (1984) 'Sisters, wives, wards and daughters: a transformational account of the political organisation of the Tiv and their neighbours, Part One: ‘The Tiv’.' Africa, 54 (4). pp. 2-21.
Book Reviews
Fardon , Richard (2008) Fabian as investigative style. African Studies Review . pp. 165-168.
