Gibbs, James Lowell

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: In this 2015 oral history interview, anthropologist James Lowell Gibbs Jr. discusses his early life and education, his fieldwork in Liberia, teaching anthropology to undergraduates, and his service as Stanford University’s first dean of undergraduate studies. Shifting to his research, Gibbs describes the circumstances that led him to focus on tribal law among the Kpelle people of Liberia and relates memories of his field work there, including the making of the prize-winning film, The Cows of Dolo Kenpaye. Gibbs recounts his rationale for moving from the University of Minnesota to Stanford in 1966. He describes the founding of the Program in African and Afro-American Studies and the recruitment of St. Clair Drake to direct the program. He recalls some of the work that he did as Stanford’s first dean of undergraduate studies, and he discusses his tenure a chair of the Department of Anthropology and the split of the department that occurred in the late 1990s. Gibbs also discusses his efforts to recruit minority faculty and his work with student-initiated programs such as SWOPSI (Student Workshop on Political and Social Improvement) and SCIRE (Student Center for Innovation in Research and Education).

Type of resource	mixed material
Date created	October 27, 2015

Author	Gibbs, James Lowell
Contributing author	Kiefer, Joyce
Publisher	Stanford Historical Society

Subject	James Lowell Gibbs Jr.
Subject	Stanford Historical Society
Subject	oral histories
Subject	higher education
Subject	interviews
Subject	professors
Subject	Stanford University > Department of Anthropology
Subject	Stanford University > Dean of Undergraduate Studies
Subject	Kpelle (African people)
Subject	Jewelle Taylor Gibbs
Subject	anthropologists

Related item	Title Finding Aid
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/cv354mk2226

Use and reproduction: The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
Copyright: Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.

Preferred Citation: Gibbs, James Lowell. (2015).
Oral History. Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program Interviews (SC0932).
Department of Special Collections & University Archives, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/cv354mk2226

Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022

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