Isaac Schapera - Life, Education, and Career

Life, Education, and Career

Schapera was born in Garies, Namaqualand, South Africa where his father owned a general store. In his youth he attended school, and later university, in Cape Town, South Africa. During his early university career he was enrolled in law, but would later switch to anthropology. He was a student of Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, who is considered a founder of structural-functionalism theory in anthropology. After finishing his Bachelors of Arts and Masters in Arts in anthropology, Schapera completed his doctorate at the London School of Economics and Politics (LSE) where he would be influenced by Bronislaw Malinowski. Thereafter he taught briefly at the University of Witwatersrand before returning to Cape Town. There he worked as a professor of social anthropology before joining joining the Department of Anthropology at LSE. His continued to work there until he retired in 1969.

Schapera's students would include future important figures of anthropology, such as Eileen Krige, Hilda Kuper, Max Gluckman, John Comaroff and Jean Comaroff. After his death, a research program called "Recovering the Schapera Project" was carried out by the University of Botswana to build upon Schapera's research. As a professor he was noted by Kuper as "not being an inspiring lecturer, but wonderful material".

Schapera's life was his work, and he never married. In his later years, Schapera rarely returned to the place of his studies, but did return to Botswana to receive the honorary degree awarded to him by the University of Botswana. Additionally, because of the damages to his vocal cords caused by surgery, he withdrew from socializing, though he maintained contact with students to stay up to date with ongoing anthropological studies.