ABQ Times

Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emeritus Steven Feld at The University of New Mexico has been elected as a British Academy Fellow. He is among the 86 leading scholars from the humanities and social sciences elected from the United Kingdom and around the world.

UNM Professor Emeritus of Anthropology Steven Feld commented, “I am honored to become an International Fellow of the British Academy, whose present and past fellows include British and International colleagues and friends whose research in anthropology and aligned fields I greatly admire.”

Feld taught at UNM for 10 years across cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and world music. Many of his classes were cross-listed between Anthropology − his principal appointment − and the Music Department where he held a courtesy appointment.

“Although my geographical areas of expertise are Melanesia, Southern Europe, and West Africa,” Feld said, “I particularly enjoyed the unique opportunity to teach and learn from UNM's Native American and New Mexican undergraduate students, and especially to work in Anthropology with distinguished colleagues and long-time friends Keith Basso, Marta Weigle, and Louise Lamphere.”

Feld is known for inventing a field of study called the anthropology of sound or acoustemology. This discipline examines sound as a way of understanding the world across cultures, languages, musics, environments. Researchers from the U.S., Australia, Europe, and Japan now engage in this type of work globally. His contributions have earned him grants, prizes, honorary doctorates, and fellowships like this one from the British Academy.

This year’s cohort of new Fellows represents a diverse range of specialisms across humanities and social sciences. Their areas of expertise include political participation studies, reconstructing ancient human diets and religion, war studies in English-speaking regions among others.

The new Fellows join a community exceeding 1700 distinguished academics.

Welcoming the new Fellows for 2024, President of the British Academy Professor Julia Black stated: “We are delighted to welcome this year’s cohort of Fellows; I offer my warmest congratulations to each one. Since its creation in 1902 our Fellows have been our lifeblood representing excellence in their disciplines – we wouldn’t achieve our impact without their expertise time energy. I look forward to working closely with our new Fellows; their breadth depth adds so much to the Academy.”

Further details about Feld’s work can be found on his website. More information about the British Academy including a complete list newly elected Fellows is available on its website.

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