Reo Franklin Fortune (27 March 1903 – 25 November 1979) was a New Zealand-born social anthropologist. Originally trained as a psychologist, Fortune was a student of some of the major theorists of British and American social anthropology including Alfred Cort Haddon, Bronislaw Malinowski and Alfred Radcliffe-Brown.[1] He lived an international life, holding various academic and government positions: in China, at Lingnan University from 1937 to 1939; in Toledo, Ohio, USA from 1940 to 1941; at the University of Toronto, from 1941 to 1943; in Burma, as government anthropologist, from 1946 to 1947;[1] and finally, at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom from 1947 to 1971, as lecturer in social anthropology specialising in Melanesian language and culture.[2]
He was first married to Margaret Mead in 1928, with whom he undertook field studies in New Guinea from 1931 to 1933.[3] They divorced in 1936. Fortune subsequently married Eileen Pope, also a New Zealander, in 1937.[4]
Fortune provided significant insights into the consequences of matrilateral and patrilateral cross-cousin marriage in advance of work by Claude Levi-Strauss. He is also known for his contribution to mathematics with his study of Fortunate numbers in number theory.[5]
The 2014 novel Euphoria by Lily King is a fictionalized account of the relationships between Fortune, Mead and Gregory Bateson in pre-WWII New Guinea.[6]
- ^ a b Thomas, Caroline (2009) "Rediscovering Reo: Reflections on the life and anthropological career of Reo Franklin Fortune," Pacific Studies, vol. 32, nos. 2/3; June–Sept
- ^ Gray, Geoffrey "Being honest to my science: Reo Fortune and JHP Murray, 1927–1930", The Australian Journal of Anthropology, vol. 10 (1), 1999, pp. 56–76
- ^ Adam, Kuper (1994). The Chosen Primate: Human Nature and Cultural Diversity. Harvard University Press. pp. 186–189. ISBN 978-0-674-12826-2.
- ^ Thomas, Caroline (2011). The Sorcerers' Apprentice: A Life of Reo Franklin Fortune, Anthropologist.
- ^ "Fortunate number". The Prime Glossary. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- ^ Eakin, Emily (6 June 2014). "Going Native: 'Euphoria,' by Lily King". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2017.