David Francis Pocock

Anthropology
Outline History
show Types Archaeological Biological Cultural Linguistic Social
show Archaeological Aerial Aviation Battlefield Biblical Bioarchaeological Environmental Ethnoarchaeological Experiential Feminist Forensic Maritime Paleoethnobotanical Zooarchaeological
show Biological Anthrozoological Biocultural Evolutionary Forensic Molecular Neurological Nutritional Paleoanthropological Primatological
show Social Cultural Applied Art Cognitive Cyborg Development Digital Ecological Environmental Economic Political economy Feminist Food Historical Institutional Kinship Legal Media Medical Museums Musical Political Psychological Public Religion Symbolic Transpersonal Urban Visual
show Linguistic Anthropological Descriptive Ethnological Ethnopoetical Historical Semiotic Sociological
show Research framework Anthropometry Ethnography cyber Ethnology Cross-cultural comparison Participant observation Holism Reflexivity Thick description Cultural relativism Ethnocentrism Emic and etic
show Key concepts Culture Development Ethnicity Evolution sociocultural Gender Kinship and descent Meme Prehistory Race Society Value Colonialism / Postcolonialism
show Key theories Actor–network theory Alliance theory Cross-cultural studies Cultural materialism Culture theory Diffusionism Feminism Historical particularism Boasian anthropology Functionalism Interpretive Performance studies Political economy Practice theory Structuralism Post-structuralism Systems theory
show Lists Anthropologists by nationality Anthropology by year Bibliography Journals List of indigenous peoples Organizations
v t

David Francis Pocock (3 September 1928 – 25 November 2007) was a British anthropologist whose main field of study was the people and diaspora of the Indian state of Gujarat, and in particular the Patidar community of that state.

David Pocock was born on 3 September 1928 in London. After early education at Highbury School, he attended Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied English Literature under F. R. Leavis. During the 1950s, he moved to the University of Oxford to take a PhD in anthropology under the guidance of Edward Evans-Pritchard. It was at this time that he began to translate the works of Emile Durkheim and he also conducted fieldwork in Gujarat, as well as among the Indian diaspora in East Africa and London.^[1][2]

Pocock moved to a post as reader at the University of Sussex in 1966, having become disenchanted with life in Oxford. Sussex provided a more relaxed social environment and was at the time a centre of challenging intellectual ideas. The Guardian describes how, at Sussex, "He soon developed a wide range of friendships and famously celebrated his 40th birthday with a legendary "black party", draping the house in crepe and serving only black velvet and caviar, both in copious quantities."^[1]

A personal chair was awarded to Pocock by Sussex in 1977.^[3] While there, he was influential in the foundation of the and also in rescuing the archives of Mass Observation. He was an inspirational teacher but became tired of changes occurring in the university system and retired early, in 1987. Although he then gave up formal study, he remained an intellectually rigorous and curious person. In particular, The Guardian notes, "... forgoing his long and intense association with Roman Catholicism, he looked to a deeper involvement in the mystery of human consciousness through his investigations of Buddhism". He also became a prison visitor.^[1]

Pocock died on 25 November 2007.^[1] He had been awarded the Rivers Memorial Medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1974.^[4]

Works[]

Louis Dumont was among the influential social anthropologists that Pocock met while at Oxford. As well as taking over Dumont's lectureship in Indian sociology while at that university, Pocock joined with Dumont to found Contributions to Indian Sociology, an academic journal. in 1957. The pair worked together on this for five years.^[1]

Much of his work remains unpublished, despite being influential^[1] and despite the existence of a lengthy bibliography.^[5] Among his published writings were:

• Pocock, David Francis (1972). Kanbi and Patidar: a study of the Patidar community of Gujarat. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-823175-2.
• Pocock, David Francis (1973). Mind, Body and Wealth: A Study of Belief and Practice in an Indian Village. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780631150008.
• Pocock, David (1975). Understanding Social Anthropology. Hodder & Stoughton.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Parry, Jonathan; Simpson, Edward (2010). "David Pocock's Contributions and the legacy of Leavis". Contributions to Indian Sociology. 44 (3): 331–359. doi:10.1177/006996671004400305. S2CID 145357518.