In Memoriam

Rhoda HalperinRhoda Halperin, 62, an influential figure in medical, urban, applied and economic anthropology, died suddenly of acute leukemia on April 9, 2009. She was the author of ten books and numerous papers, former president of the Society for Economic Anthropology (SEA), member of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) Anthropology Advisory Committee, and supportive colleague to many.

While an undergraduate at Bennington, Rhoda was influenced by economist Harry Pearson, a student of Karl Polanyi, initiating her lifelong interest in Polanyi and economic anthropology. At Brandeis (PhD 1975), Helen Codere, David Kaplan and Bob Hunt stimulated her interest in Mexico, peasantry and ecological systems. During graduate school and the 1970s Rhoda taught at Boston University, Bennington, MIT and the University of Massachusetts, often balancing the responsibilities of a two-career family. In 1978 she joined the University of Cincinnati as assistant professor of anthropology, introducing medical anthropology to the medical school (as associate professor of psychiatry as well as anthropology). She became chair of anthropology in 1986, leaving to serve as anthropology chair at Montclair State University in 2004 (becoming professor emerita at Cincinnati in 2006).

Rhoda exerted a profound impact on students and colleagues, including the many postdocs whocame to Cincinnati to study economic anthropology with her. Rhoda also worked for affordable housing and a charter school with residents in Cincinnati's East End, writing that "juggling scholarly ... and advocacy work is something I have learned to do, although managing the pieces is never easy." At Montclair she created the Center for Heritage and Archaeological Studies with colleagues from anthropology, classics, and Earth and environmental studies, reaching out to local school teachers.

Remarkable for varied scholarship and crisp prose, Rhoda's work emphasized place and context. Peasant Livelihood (edited with James Dow, 1977) explored the institutional framework of peasant economies in differing ecological contexts. Economies across Cultures (1988) sought to integrate and untangle key concepts of Polanyi, Marx and the formal economists to create the groundwork for a scientific economic anthropology, a project continued in Cultural Economies Past and Present (1994). Her theory was informed and deepened by fieldwork in Appalachia, as reflected in The Livelihood of Kin (1990). In Practicing Community (1994) she turned to Cincinnati's East End, continuing her interest with Whose School Is It? (2006), describing the struggle to create a charter school. Significantly personal and inflected by Rhoda's love for the seashore, The Teacup Ministry and Other Stories (2001) employed short fiction and prose vignettes to demonstrate the expressions of class in everyday life. Working closely with students and colleagues at the University of South Florida, Rhoda co-edited the forthcoming Becoming an Engineer with Kathy Borman and Will Tyson.

A tireless advocate for anthropology, Rhoda attended the April 2009 SEA conference in Los Angeles, afterward flying to Alberta to give a colloquium on "Long Term Field Work as Memoir." On April 9 she attended the defense of an MA thesis deeply influenced by The Livelihood of Kin and died within minutes of her return to New Jersey, attended by Bill Halperin, her husband of 41 years. She is mourned by Bill, her sons Samuel and Michael, friends and colleagues. Rhoda's generosity, intellectual acuity and uncomplicated but significant presence in our lives are already much missed. The SEA, NYAS Anthropology Section, and Halperin family are planning an event celebrating Rhoda's life for the AAA meeting in December. The Halperin family is also establishing a student travel fellowship and paper prize in Rhoda's name. (William P Mitchell, Photo courtesy Jean Jackson)