Benedict Anderson

Benedict Anderson
Anderson in a 1994 interview
Born	Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (1936-08-26)August 26, 1936 Kunming, China
Died	December 13, 2015(2015-12-13) (aged 79) Batu, East Java, Indonesia
Citizenship	Ireland
Fields	Political science, historical science
Institutions	Cornell University (Professor Emeritus)
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge (B.A.) Cornell University (Ph.D.)
Doctoral advisor	George McTurnan Kahin
Doctoral students	John Sidel
Notes
Brother of Perry Anderson

Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (August 26, 1936 – December 13, 2015) was the Aaron L. Binenkorb Professor Emeritus of International Studies, Government & Asian Studies at Cornell University, and was best known for his 1983 book Imagined Communities, which explored the origins of nationalism. A historian, political scientist, and polyglot, his work on the Cornell Paper that debunked the official story of the 30 September Movement in Indonesia and the subsequent anti-Communist purges of 1965–66 led to his expulsion from that country. He was the brother of historian Perry Anderson (b. 1938).

Anderson was born on August 26, 1936, in Kunming, China, to an Anglo-Irish father and English mother. His father, James Carew O'Gorman Anderson, was an official with Chinese Maritime Customs. The family descended from the Anderson family of Ardbrake, Bothriphnie, Scotland, who settled in Ireland in the early 1700s. Benedict's grandmother, Lady Frances Anderson, belonged to the Gaelic Mac Gormáin clan of County Clare and was the daughter of the Irish Home Rule MP Major Purcell O'Gorman. Major Purcell O'Gorman was in turn the son of Nicholas Purcell O'Gorman who had been involved with the Republican Society of United Irishmen during the 1798 Rising, later becoming Secretary of the Catholic Association in the 1820s. Benedict Anderson took his middle names from the cousin of Major Purcell O'Gorman, Richard O'Gorman, who was one of the leaders of the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848.