Richard Borshay Lee

Richard Borshay Lee, born on January first, nineteen thirty-seven, is a distinguished Canadian anthropologist renowned for his extensive research on the indigenous peoples of Botswana and Namibia. He has dedicated his academic career to exploring their ecology and history, contributing significantly to the field of anthropology.

Lee's academic journey began at the University of Toronto and continued at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his Ph.D. He currently holds the title of professor emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Toronto, reflecting his long-standing commitment to education and research.

Among his notable achievements, Lee is best known for his influential work on the Ju'/hoansi, which earned him the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in nineteen eighty for his book, The !Kung San: Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society. His collaborative efforts include co-organizing the landmark 1966 University of Chicago Symposium on 'Man the Hunter' with Irven DeVore and co-editing The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunter-Gatherers with Richard Daly, first published in nineteen ninety-nine.

In two thousand three, the journal Anthropologica dedicated an entire issue to celebrating Lee's contributions to anthropology. More recently, in two thousand eleven, he co-authored the children's book Africans Thought of It: Amazing Innovations with Bathseba Opini. His current research focuses on the anthropology of health, particularly the cultural and social factors surrounding the AIDS epidemic in southern Africa, supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health through Columbia University School of Public Health and the University of Toronto.