Thursday, May 19, 2005
Yale University
Department of Anthropology
P.O. Box 208277
New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8277
An Open Letter from the University of Sussex Anthropology Community to Anthropology Faculty at Yale
Dear Colleagues,
In the past two weeks we have learned of the recent decision not to renew David Graeber’s position as a member of your department. We are writing to you to express our concern, both about the decision itself and about the ways in which the matter appears to have been handled by the anthropology department and Yale University.
David Graeber is known to faculty and postgraduate students at Sussex both through his highly original scholarly interventions and in more personal ways, through networks arising from his political activism in relation to global economic issues. Despite his relatively junior career stage, Dr. Graeber has already established a remarkable reputation in the world of anthropology, as much in the United Kingdom as in the United States. His work is regarded by many of us as brilliant and innovative yet refreshingly accessible. It has received exceptional praise from distinguished anthropological reviewers; it is widely cited and frequently assigned in classrooms throughout the world. Dr. Graeber’s decision to use anthropological knowledge to engage provocatively yet in constructively critical ways with contemporary issues of economic and social justice is perfectly in accord with American anthropology’s proud tradition of the public intellectual (following Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict and many others), an ethos to which we at Sussex are also committed. The enthusiastic support he has received from both undergraduate and postgraduate students, evident not least in the campaign of support currently underway, attests to the high regard in which he is held as a teacher. We cannot but be puzzled that renewal of contract has been denied for a young scholar who, from our perspective, appears to be performing at the very highest level in terms of teaching and research. We are further perplexed that an institution such as Yale, with its own formidable intellectual reputation, would not wish to do all within its power to retain such a lively and accomplished young scholar.
While we do appreciate that committee discussions on these matters operate on the principle of confidentiality, we understand that Dr. Graeber himself was given no explanation whatsoever for the non-renewal of his contract. In the UK, this would not be an acceptable procedure. The head of department would be obliged to offer specific and detailed feedback to the affected colleague on the aspects of the performance of contractual duties with regard to which, after careful consideration of evidence, he or she had been deemed deficient.
The fact that Dr. Graeber appears not to have been provided with such feedback has given rise to speculation that political motives could possibly lie behind the decision of non-renewal of contract. The lack of transparency and due process in the case is immediately damaging to the international reputation of Yale as an institution, and and of Yale anthropology specifically. Yet it has implications for the profession more broadly, since it could be seen to invite suspicion that only certain kinds of views will be tolerated by powerful members of the anthropological community. There is also widely circulated suspicion that the decision may have been related to Dr. Graeber’s personal defense of a student leader in the campaign for graduate student unionization, as well as his general support for their cause; this is particularly disturbing in that Dr. Graeber’s stance on these matters ought to be regarded as entirely separate from and irrelevant to the evaluation of his academic performance. We cannot know whether these rumours are true, yet they are a direct consequence of the lack of clarity and transparency that has accompanied the decision.
Given the extensive national and international concern that the decision has provoked in anthropological as well as wider academic contexts, we the undersigned respectfully urge you to reconsider it, and to renew Dr. Graeber’s contract.
Sincerely yours,
Jane K. Cowan, Professor of Social Anthropology and Head of Department
Simon Coleman, Professor of Social Anthropology
Geert de Neve, Lecturer in Social Anthropology
James Fairhead, Professor of Social Anthropology
Ralph Grillo, Professor of Social Anthropology
Raminder Kaur, Lecturer in Social Anthropology
Peter Luetchford, Leach/RAI Fellow 2004-05
Valentina Napolitano-Quayson, Lecturer in Social Anthropology
Filippo Osella, Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology
Jeff Pratt, Reader in Social Anthropology
Maya Unnithan, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology
Ann Whitehead, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology
Genner de Jesús Llanes Ortiz, DPhil Candidate in Social Anthropology
Marianne Maecklebergh, DPhil Candidate in Social Anthropology
Nick Nisbett, DPhil Candidate in Social Anthropology
Dorte Thorson, DPhil Candidate in Social Anthropology
cc: Richard Levin, Yale University President
Andrew Hamilton, Yale University Provost