Dame Mary Douglas passed away Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Over the last few months I've been visiting Mary as part of my research into how Cultural Theory can be applied to corporate management, organising a conference on her behalf, and contributing to a semiotics course. Her hospitality and intellectual vibrancy are inspirational, and I will deeply miss our meetings. I heavily endorse Richard Fardon's obituary:
A wide circle of friends outside anthropology, and the like-minded within, will remember her capacity for encouragement and support of younger colleagues, an enthusiasm and curiosity that age only accentuated, and her boundless energy. She inveighed against exclusion; her hospitality was genuine and her home open to so many visitors that only the self-discipline of her work habits and her writing facility allowed her to achieve so much.
My dissertation was heavily influenced my Mary, and conversations about the first paper in particular developed into a formal interview exploring the similarities between Mary's work and that of Hayek. I've just been listening back to some of it - she was sharp to the end. It's fair to say that she preferred the second chapter to the first, but is always supportive to young students working in the field. Last night I was honoured to be awarded the Israel M Kirzner for outstanding dissertation in Austrian Economics. Alas, I can't share the news with Mary, but can certainly dedicate it to her.
The conference flyer can be downloaded: Download ct_workshop.pdf
Obituaries: The Times; The Guardian; New York Times
Anthony, my condolonces on your loss of a close colleague, but also many congratulations on winning the Israel M Kirzner (award?) - I'm not up on my Austrian Accolades but it certainly sounds good to me!
Posted by: Andrew Mellor | May 18, 2007 at 05:42 PM