OBITUARY
Barbara E. Ward (1919-1983)
Members will be saddened to learn of Barbara E. Ward's death in 1983. Barbara was a gifted teacher of social anthropology and sociology in general and of Chinese society in particular. She will be remembered with respect and affection by the many students who learnt from her at the various universities in which she taught: London, Cornell, Cambridge, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
3
Barbara read history at Newnham College, Cambridge before the Second World War, gained a Diploma in Education at London University in 1942 and then taught in schools in England and West Africa until 1947. Like a number of other British social anthropologists of her generation, Barbara was led to the discipline by the experience of overseas service gained during and immediately after the war. Although she completed a thesis on the social organization of the Ewe-speaking peoples of southeast Ghana for a Master's degree at the London School of Economics in 1949 and later published some of her observations on social change in West Africa, Barbara became drawn to the study of Chinese society. The presence of enthusiastic Chinese scholars at the L.S.E., such as Tien Ju-k'ang, as well as the inherent attractiveness of a civilization which since the Enlightenment has had a special place in western social thought, were important factors underlying Barbara's growing interest in China. Much of her subsequent writing was based on field research carried out in Kau Sai, a New Territories community of boat-dwelling fishermen, between 1950 and 1953 and during a number of later visits. Barbara's essays on the boat people represent very substantial contributions to sinological anthropology, and through this work Barbara played a leading role in opening up the field of China to modern anthropology. Her friendships with the people of Kau Sai, many of whom appeared in an ethnographic film on the fishing community made by her and Hugh Gibb, were maintained for the rest of her life, and news of Barbara's death will have been received with much sorrow by her friends in Kau Sai as well as by many other residents of Hong Kong.
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OBITUARY
Barbara E. Ward (1919-1983)
Members will be saddened to leam of Barbara E. Ward's death in 1983. Barbara was a gifted teacher of social anthropology and sociology in general and of Chinese society in particular. She will be remembered with respect and affection by the many students who learnt from her at the various universities in which she taught London, Cornell, Cambridge, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
3
Barbara read history at Newnham College, Cambridge before the Second World War, gained a Diploma in Education at London University in 1942 and then taught in schools in England and West Africa until 1947. Like a number of other British social anthropologists of her generation Barbara was led to the discipline by the experience of overseas service gained during and immediately after the war. Although she completed a thesis on the social organization of the Ewe-speaking peoples of southeast Ghana for a Master's degree at the London School of Economics in 19491 and later published some of her observations on social change in West Africa, Barbara became drawn to the study of Chinese society. The presence of enthusiastic Chinese scholars at the L.S.E. such as Tien Ju-k'ang, as well as the inherent attractiveness of a civilization which since the Enlightenment has had a special place in western social thought, were important factors underlying Barbara's growing interest in China. Much of her subsequent writing was based on field research carried out in Kau Sai, a New Territories community of boat-dwelling fishermen, between 1950 and 1953 and during a number of later visits. Barbara's essays on the boat people represent very substantial contributions to sinological anthropology and through this work Barbara played a leading role in opening up the field of China to modern anthropology. Her friendships with the people of Kau Sai many of whom appeared in an ethnographic film on the fishing community made by her and Hugh Gibb, were maintained for the rest of her life and news of Barbara's death will have been received with much sorrow by her friends in Kau Sai as well as by many other residents of Hong Kong.
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