Spiro, Melford E.

Contributed to

Burmese supernaturalism
Book 1978

Summary: Melford Elliot Spiro was an American cultural anthropologist specializing in religion and psychological anthropology. He is known for his critiques of the pillars of contemporary anthropological theory—wholesale cultural determinism, radical cultural relativism, and virtually limitless cultural diversity—and for his emphasis on the theoretical importance of unconscious desires and beliefs in the study of stability and change in social and cultural systems, particularly in respect to the family, politics, and religion. Explicated in numerous theoretical publications, they are empirically exemplified in monographs based on his fieldwork in Ifaluk atoll in Micronesia, an Israeli kibbutz, and a village in Burma. Wikipedia
Gender or Sex: Male [2][3][5][1]
Born: 1920-04-26 [3]
Birth Place: Cleveland, Ohio [3]; Cleveland [1]
Died: 2014-10-18 [3]
Death Place: La Jolla, Calif. [3]; La Jolla [1]
Country: United States [3]
Language: English [4]
Occupation: anthropologist [1]
Employer: Harvard University [1]; University of California, San Diego [1]
Educated at: Northwestern University [1]; University of Minnesota [1]; University of Pennsylvania [1]
Country of Education: United States [1]

Sources: 1. Wikidata; 2. VIAF; 3. Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (Germany); 4. Bibliothèque nationale de France; 5. National Library of Korea

Last updated Jun 12, 2025