Dr. Robert Launay

Biography

Robert Launay is a social and cultural anthropologist trained in the United States, England, and France. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in West Africa, particularly among Muslim minorities who have historically specialized in trade. His notable works include 'Traders Trade', published by Cambridge University Press, which focuses on how a minority community adapted to the loss of trade monopoly. His book 'Stream: Islam Society West African Town' published by the University of California Press won the Amaury Talbot Prize for African ethnography in England in 1992, specifically addressing religious change and related controversies. Launay has also edited volumes such as 'Islamic Education Africa: Writing Boards Blackboards'. Over the years, he has taught the history of anthropology to both undergraduates and graduates and has begun research on the history of the discipline, consistently publishing articles on the history of ethnography in Africa, especially concerning French perspectives. His publications include 'Savages, Despots, Romans: Urge Compare Origins Anthropology', which traces the ways modern Europeans defined non-moderns. Furthermore, he edited 'Foundations Anthropological Theory: Classical Antiquity to Eighteenth Century', published by Wiley-Blackwell. In the Spring of 2018, he gave talks at various prestigious universities across Europe, including the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels.

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