Alan Macfarlane
| Emeritus Professor Alan Donald James Macfarlane BA MA DPhil MPhil PhD FBA FRHistS |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
20 December 1941 Shillong, Meghalaya, India |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields |
Anthropology History |
| Institutions | King's College, University of Cambridge |
| Alma mater |
Worcester College, University of Oxford (BA, MA, D.Phil.) London School of Economics and Political Science (M.Phil.) School of Oriental and African Studies (PhD) |
| Thesis | Witchcraft prosecutions in Essex, 1560–1680 (1967) |
| Doctoral advisor | Keith Thomas |
Alan Donald James Macfarlane FBA FRHistS (born 20 December 1941 in Shillong, Meghalaya, India) is an anthropologist and historian and a Professor Emeritus of King's College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 20 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan and China. He has focused on comparative study of the origins and nature of the modern world. In recent years he has become increasingly interested in the use of visual material in teaching and research. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society.
Macfarlane was born into a British family of tea planters in Assam in northeast India. He was born in Ganesh Das Hospital in the hill station of Shillong, at the time the capital of undivided Assam state and now the capital of Meghalaya. His father "Mac" Macfarlane was also a reserve officer of the Assam Rifles, besides being a tea planter, and his mother was the author Iris Macfarlane. The family lived in various tea estates in both Upper Assam and Lower Assam, in the Brahmaputra valley. For his education, Macfarlane was sent to England, attending Dragon School in Oxford and Sedbergh School in Yorkshire, going on to Worcester College at Oxford.
Macfarlane was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford and Sedbergh School. He then read Modern History at Worcester College, University of Oxford, from 1960 to 1963, completing a Bachelor of Arts and went on to his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy on Witchcraft prosecutions in Essex, 1560–1680: A Sociological Analysis, in 1967. He also completed a Master of Philosophy in Anthropology on 'The regulation of marital and sexual relationships in 17th century England' at the London School of Economics in 1968 and a second Doctorate in Anthropology on 'Population and resources in central Nepal' in 1972 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London.
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