Background
Sterling G. Robbins was born in Dodge City, Kansas in 1936. Robbins attended the University of Washington for his graduate
studies, earning a Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1970. His dissertation, "Warfare, marriage, and the distribution of goods in Auyana"
met mixed reviews in the anthropology community and was later revised, expanded and published as Auyana: Those who Held onto
Home (1982). After he earned his Ph.D. Robbins was associated with the University of California, Los Angeles in the early
1970s and after some time became associated with the University of Hawaii.