Isaac Schapera

Isaac Schapera (23 June 1905 Garies, South Africa – 26 June 2003 London, England), was a social anthropologist at the London School of Economics specialising in South Africa. He was notable for his contributions of ethnographic and typological studies of the indigenous peoples of Botswana and South Africa. Additionally, he was an one of the founders of the group that would develop British social anthropology.

Not only did Schapera write numerous publications of his extensive research done in South Africa and Botswana, he published his work throughout his career (1923-1969), and even after he retired. As an anthropologist he focused on the lives and customs of the indigenous tribesmen of South Africa and was considered to be a specialist in the topic. Early in his career he would focus on studies of the Khoisan of South Africa until the 1930s, when he would begin to focus on Tswana of Botswana.

Schapera also received many honours and titles, such as being the president of the Royal Anthropology Institute. Additionally, he was awarded an honorary doctorate when the University of Botswana was founded in 1985, was elected as Chair of the Association of Social Anthropology, and the Journal of African Law was founded in his honour.

To compile his work for future generations and note his anthropological contributions a bibliography was published in the Botswana Journal of African African Studies. This academic journal has also dedicated an entire issue to the work he had done throughout his career. In 2003 his obituary was published in the academic journal Anthropology Today, titled the "The Legacy of Isaac Schapera". In the wake of his death, photographs he had taken of South Africa were published in a book Picturing a Colonial Past; The African Photographs by Isaac Schapera and the Recovering the Botswana project would be dedicated to him.