Roger M. Keesing Papers, 1962-1993

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Summary

Abstract:
Papers of cultural and linguistic anthropologist Roger M. Keesing, who studied the culture, history and language of the Kwaio people of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. The Keesing Papers contain research material generated from his fieldwork with the Kwaio and, to a lesser extent, work in the Himalayan villages of India, overall reflecting his interest in Melanesian languages and cultural conflict caused by colonialism. Materials include correspondence with colleagues, friends, family, and associates; manuscripts of published and unpublished works; ethnographic and linguistic data collected in field notebooks, journals, typescripts, diaries, photographs, and recorded interviews; teaching material; writings of others related to his research interests; and computer analysis of genealogical data from the Kwaio.
Extent:
38.5 Linear feet (46 archives boxes, 21 card file boxes, 11 records cartons, 17 oversize folders)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Roger M. Keesing Papers, MSS 427. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

Background

Scope and content:

Papers of cultural and linguistic anthropologist Roger M. Keesing, who studied the culture, history and language of the Kwaio people of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. The Keesing Papers contain research material generated from his fieldwork with the Kwaio and, to a lesser extent, work in the Himalayan villages of India, overall reflecting his interest in Melanesian languages and cultural conflict caused by colonialism. Materials include correspondence with colleagues, friends, family, and associates; manuscripts of published and unpublished works; ethnographic and linguistic data collected in field notebooks, journals, typescripts, diaries, photographs, and recorded interviews; teaching material; writings of others related to his research interests; and computer analysis of genealogical data from the Kwaio.

Arranged in thirteen series: 1) MISCELLANEOUS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS BY KEESING, 4) WRITINGS BY OTHERS, 5) SOLOMON ISLANDS - FIELD RESEARCH, 6) SOLOMON ISLANDS - PHOTOGRAPHS, 7) SOLOMON ISLANDS - SOUND RECORDINGS, 8) SUBJECT FILES, 9) CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS, 10) TEACHING MATERIAL, 11) COMPUTER ANALYSIS, 12) INDIA - FIELD RESEARCH, and 13) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES.

Biographical / historical:

Roger Martin Keesing, anthropologist and linguist, was born in Hawaii on May 16, 1935, the second child of two anthropologists who had immigrated to the United States from New Zealand in 1928.

Keesing received a B.A. degree in social anthropology from Stanford in 1956. He then spent two years with the U.S. Air Force, taking advantage of a posting to Turkey to conduct fieldwork. Deciding to continue his study of anthropology, he began graduate work at Harvard University, obtaining an M.A. in 1963 and a doctoral degree in 1965. His dissertation, Kwaio Marriage and Society, was based on ethnographic fieldwork with the Kwaio, a native people of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. He remained both professionally and personally engaged with the Kwaio throughout his career.

He joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1965, becoming head of the anthropology department in 1971. His interest in the peoples of the Pacific region continued, and he served as Acting Director of the Center for South Pacific Studies at U.C. Santa Cruz, 1972-1974.

In 1974 Keesing accepted the chair of the anthropology department at the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra. He was there until 1990, when he returned to North America to teach anthropology at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Keesing did fieldwork in the Solomon Islands in the early 1960s, working on his dissertation. He made regular visits over the next two decades, recording ethnographic and linguistic data that would form the basis for numerous publications on the Oceanic languages of the Solomon Islands. His book, Melanisian Pidgen and the Oceanic Substrate (1988), made an important contribution to creole studies, building on his previous work, a Kwaio Dictionary (1975) and Kwaio Grammar (1985). He also carried out field research in Himalayan villages in India in 1978 and 1980-1981, but his most extensive contributions to anthropology are his studies of the language and customs of the Kwaio people.

Keesing was able to pose broad theoretical questions and respond to them with detailed research results that reflected the range of his interests: cultural theory, language, social structure, gender relations and the impact of colonial history and development. He published widely, writing more than one hundred articles and ten books. He completely reworked the introductory textbook his father had written, as reflected in the subtitle, Cultural Anthropology: A Contemporary Perspective, which became a successful introductory text.

Keesing died in Toronto, May 7, 1993.

[Sources: Jolly. M. Roger Martin Keesing: 1935-1993. Australian Journal of Anthropology, v4, n2 (Spring, 1993), 157-161; Macintyre, M. Roger Martin Keesing (1935-93). Oceania, v65, n3 (March, 1995), 193-194.

Acquisition information:
Acquired 2007.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Original sound recordings are restricted. Researchers may refer to transcriptions, or request a listening copy be made in advance.

Letters of recommendation in Box 2, Folder 23 are restricted according to state and federal law until 2050. Audiocassette #71 is restricted by the donor until 2050.

Terms of access:

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

Preferred citation:

Roger M. Keesing Papers, MSS 427. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

Location of this collection:
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0175
La Jolla, CA 92093-0175, US
Contact:
(858) 534-2533
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Website