Department of Anthropology
Peabody Museum
11 Divinity Avenue
Phone: (617) 495-3854; Fax: (617) 496-8041 E-mail: idevore@msn.com
Click on image to enlarge and see Claire and Brynn. Irv and Nancy DeVore 15 April, 2005
Degrees Awarded
B.A. 1956, University of Texas, Philosophy and Anthropology
M.A. 1959, University of Chicago, Anthropology
Ph.D. 1962, University of Chicago, Anthropology
M.A. 1963, Harvard University, Honorary
Academic Awards
President, Section H (Anthropology), American Association for the
Advancement of Science, 1988-89
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected 1968
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, elected 1967
Fellow, American Anthropological Association, elected 1962
The Walker Prize for Science, Museum of Science, Boston, 1970
Lifetime Achievement Award, Institute of Human Origins, New York, 1990
Teaching and Fellowships
Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 1987-1992
Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology, since 1991
Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 1992
Professor of Anthropology and Biology, Harvard University, since 1969
Visiting Lecturer, Human Biology, Stanford University, 1964 and 1966
Lecturer in Anthropology, Harvard University, 1963
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1962-63
Fellow, Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, Berkeley, 1961
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1960-61
Offices in Professional Organizations (selected):
Director, 1996-97, and Acting Director, 1994,
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
Trustee, 1974-present, Co-Chair, Science & Grants Committee, 1980-present,
L. S. B. Leakey Foundation, San Francisco, California
Board of Advisors, 1976-94,
The Center for Field Research ("Earthwatch"), Belmont, Massachusetts
Co-Founder and President, 1986-present,
Dolphins of Shark Bay Research Foundation, Western Australia
Board of Directors, 1973-94, Cultural Survival, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts
Advisory Council, Section H (Anthropology), 1987-90,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C.
Advisory Council, 1979-83, Wenner-Gren Foundation, New York, New York
Co-Founder, Kalahari Peoples Fund, 1970
Executive Board, 1970-73, American Anthropological Association, Washington, D. C.
Board of Directors, 1972-75, Foundations' Fund for Research in Psychiatry, New Haven
Advisory Committee on Primate Research Centers, 1964-67, National Institutes of Health
Board of Directors, 1968-72, Education Development Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Advisor, 1968-72, The Danforth Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri
Board of Directors, 1971-73, Ninth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethological
Sciences, Inc., Chicago
Committee on Conservation of Nonhuman Primates, 1972-73, National Research Council, National
Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
Editorials (selected):
Associate Editor, "Human Biology and Primatology". In: Current Anthropology:
A World Journal of the Sciences of Man, 1985-87.
Editorial Board, Ethology and Sociobiology, 1979-present
Consulting Editor, "Physical Anthropology". In: Random House Unabridged Dictionary
of the English Language , second edition
Field Research:
Mesquakie Indian Settlement, "Action Anthropology" project, 1957
Kenya, 1959-60, 1963, 1964, 1972, 1977; behavior and ecology of baboons
"Harvard Kalahari Project", Co-Director, Botswana, 1963-80; long-term study of !Kung San (Bushmen)
life. More than 25 graduate students and professionals have documented all aspects of !Kung life, including
demography, ecology, archaeology, ethology, health and nutrition, child-rearing practices, social
organization, personality, myth, religion and trance phenomenon. To date, some 20 books and monographs
and 200 scientific articles have been based on this project.
"Ituri Project", Co-Director, Zaire, 1980-present; long-term intensive study of the Efe ("Pygmy hunter-
gatherers") and Lese (horticultural villagers) in the northeastern Ituri Forest of Zaire. At present, 17
specialists and graduate students are involved in the study documentation of all aspects of the behavior,
ecology, belief system, etc., of these two populations. The first of several projected books and some 20
articles have appeared to date.
"Cross-cultural Study of Adolescence", Co-Director, 1980-87. Nine post-doctoral fellows studied
adolescent behavior and development at field sites in Nigeria, Thailand, Morocco, northern Canada (Copper
Eskimos), Australia (Arnhem Land Aborigines) and Kenya. The first four books of the projected six-volume
series have appeared.
"Baboon Socioecology," Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. July-November 1992. Coordinated four teams of
graduate and undergraduate students in a study of the demography, ecology and behavior of baboons, in part
to assist the park authorities in developing management guidelines.
Brief research visits, usually to direct graduate student research, to sites in Borneo (orangutans),
India (langur monkeys), Tanzania (chimpanzee and baboon studies; Bushmen cave art), Japan (macaque monkeys),
Morocco (macaque monkeys), Arnhem Land, Australia (Aborigine settlements), Papua New Guinea (Highland New
Guinea horticulturalists), Shark Bay, western Australia (dolphin social behavior), Brazil (South American
primates) and Uganda (chimpanzee studies).
Books:
Primate Behavior: Field Studies of Monkeys and Apes, ed., Holt, Rinehart & Winston,
New York.
1965 The Primates, with S. Eimerl. Life Natural Library, Time, New York.
1968 Man the Hunter, with Richard B. Lee, eds. Aldine Publ., Chicago.
1976 Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers, with Richard B. Lee, eds., Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1982 Field Guide for the Study of Adolescence, with Beatrice Whiting, John Whiting, et al.
A 200-page field manual prepared by the staff and post-doctoral trainees for use at the field sites in
our cross-cultural study of adolescence; revision for publication as a general field guide is under
consideration.
Selected Publications:
1961."Social behavior of baboons and early man", with S. L. Washburn. In: The Social Life of
Early Man, S. L. Washburn, ed., Viking Fd. Publ. in Anth., 31:91-105 (and Aldine Publ.).
1961."The social life of baboons", with S. L. Washburn. In: Scientific American, 204: 62-72.
1962."The social behavior and organization of baboon troops", unpublished doctoral thesis, University
of Chicago, 192 pages.
1963."Comparative ecology and behavior of monkeys and apes". In: Classification and Human
Evolution, S. L. Washburn, ed., Viking Fd. Publ. in Anth., 37: 301-319 (and Aldine Publ.).
1963."Mother-infant relations in free-ranging baboons". In: Maternal Behavior in Mammals, H.
Rheingold, ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 305-355.
1963."Baboon ecology and human evolution", with S. L. Washburn. In: African Ecology and Human
Evolution, F. C. Howell and F. Bourliere, eds., Viking Fd. Publ. in Anth., 36:335-367 (and Aldine
Publ.).
1963."Recent and current field studies of primates", with R. B. Lee. In: Folia Primat.,
1(1):66-72.
1964."The Evolution of Social Life". In: Horizons of Anthropology, Sol Tax, ed., Aldine Publ.,
Chicago, pp. 25-36.
1965."Male dominance and mating behavior in baboons". In: Sex and Behavior, Frank Beach, ed.,
John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 266-289.
1965."Baboon Ecology", with K. R. L. Hall. In: Primate Behavior, pp. 20-52.
1965."Baboon Social Behavior", with K. R. L. Hall. In: Primate Behavior, pp. 53-110.
1968."Social Behavior, animal: Primate behavior". In: International Encyclopedia of the Social
Sciences, MacMillan, New York, pp. 351-360.
1970."The ways of the primates". In: Science Year 1971, Field Enterprises, Chicago, pp. 64-79.
1971."The evolution of human society". In: Man and Beast: Comparative Social Behavior, J. F.
Eisenberg and W. S. Dillon, eds., Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, pp. 298-311.
1972."Quest for the roots of society", In: The Marvels of Animal Behavior, Peter Marler, ed.,
National Geographic Society, Washington, pp. 393-408.
1974."Infancy in hunter-gatherer life: An ethological perspective," with M. J. Konner. In:
Ethology and Psychiatry, Norman F. White, ed., University of Toronto Press, Toronto, pp. 113-141.
1976."The Biology of Human Evolution," In: Human Diversity: Its Causes and Social Significance,
B. D. Davis and P. Flaherty, eds., Ballinger Publ., Cambridge, Massachusetts pp. 21-36.
1979."Aggressive competition and social dominance theory," with J. L. Popp. In: The Great Apes,
D. A. Hamburg and E. R. McCown, eds., W. A.Benjamin, Menlo Park, California, pp. 317-338.
1985."The Natural Superiority of Women", with C. Owen Lovejoy. In: The Physical and Mental Health of
Aged Women, M. R. Haug, A. B. Ford, and M. Sheafor, eds., Springer Publ., New York, pp. 27-38.
1987."The Reconstruction of Hominid Behavioral Evolution through Strategic Modeling", with J. Tooby.
In: Primate Models of Hominid Behavior, W. Kinzey, ed., Plenum Press.
1988."Prospects for a synthesis in the human behavioral sciences". In: Emerging Syntheses in Science:
Proceedings of the Foundation Workshops of the Santa Fe Institute. D. Pines, ed., The Santa Fe Institute,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, pp. 85-105.
1989."Research on the Efe and Lese Populations of the Ituri Forest, Zaire", with Robert C. Bailey.
In: American Journal of Primatology, 78(4):459-471.
1990."Introduction: Current Studies on Primate Socioecology and Evolution".
In: International Journal of Primatology, 11(1):1-5.
1992.Reports submitted to the Chief Warden, Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve:
"Socioecology of baboons in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, 1958-92"
"Demographic assessment of the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) in the Cape"
"The ecological imapct of foraging patterns on baboons (Papio ursinus) in various vegetation
communities of the Cape Point Nature Reserve"
"Ranging behavior, sleeping sites and inter-group competition in Cape baboons (Papio ursinus)"
1996.Introduction to Robert Ardrey's The Territorial Imperative. Kodansha America, New York,
New York, pp. ix-xviii.
Television:
Have participated in more than 30 network and public television programs as "expert", script consultant
or host/narrator. The most recent such participation was in the PBS "Nova" program "The Private Life of
Dolphins," which centered on our research with dolphins in Shark Bay ("Monkey Mia"), western Australia.
Exhibit:
Curator/director for the (Harvard University) Peabody Museum exhibit "Ju/wasi: Bushmen of the Kalahari,"
on view since December 1991. A year in preparation, the exhibit includes several hundred ethnographic
and archaeological artifacts and features 96 photographs (many of them life-size), five video programs
(including a campfire setting that recreates the healing "trance dance") and a naturalistic Bushmen
campsite. The almost continuous docmentation of this population since 1950 made it possible to blend
photography with artifacts, and depict the changes in Bushman life from prehistory to early contact to
their turbulent lives today.
Teaching films(16mm, sound and color):
University of California, Berkeley, series (1960-63):
"Baboon Behavior", with S. L. Washburn
Awarded first prize by the Educational Film Library Association, 1963
"Baboon Ecology "
"Baboon Social Organization"
Educational Development Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, series (1966-67):
"Animals in Amboseli"
"The Baboon Troop"
"Dynamics of Male Dominance in a Baboon Troop"
"Field Study Sequence: Evening Activity"
"Baboon Development: The Young Infant: Birth to Four Months"
"Baboon Development: The Older Infant: Four Months to One Year"
Educational Development Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, series (1974-75):
"Chimpanzees of the Gombe National Park", with Jane Goodall
"A Chimpanzee Family ", with Jane Goodall
Curriculum Materials:
"Man: A Course of Study " (MACOS) (1964-68), with Jerome Bruner and Asen Baliki
An upper elementary school course combining biology, animal behavior and the ethnography of
the Netsilik Eskimo.
"MACOS" includes 16 films, 22 booklets, games, murals, etc.
It is available in 4 languages and taught in more than 16 countries.
"Exploring Human Nature" (1972-75), a series of four high school/community college course units
based on different periods in the life cycle:
"Origins of Human Behavior" (infancy)
"Childhood and the Community"
"Managing Transitions: Coming of Age" (adolescence)
"The Individual in Society" (adulthood)
The course combines methods and perspectives of anthropology, sociology, psychology and biology.
