Vera D. Rubin
(1911 - 1985)
Vera Dourmashkin Rubin was born in Moscow on August 6, 1911. She
came to the United States in 1912 with her father, a journalist,
She lived with her father, his brother, a physician, and
her aunt who raised her in a Jewish community on New York's Lower
Eastside. In 1930, Rubin graduated summa cum laude from New York University
with a major in French Literature. While caring for two children,
she continued her studies at Columbia University. She studied anthropology
with Ruth Benedict, Julian Steward, and Margaret Mead who became a
lifelong friend. She received the doctorate in anthropology in 1952.
During her early postdoctorate years, she worked as a social science
researcher, taught classes at Hunter College and the New York University
School of Education, and worked as a research associate in the Department
of Anthropology at Columbia University. At Columbia, Rubin conducted
a seminar on the Caribbean with Charles Wagley, a Latin American
specialist. The seminar revealed the need to train and financially
support graduate students for fieldwork in the Caribbean.
In 1955, Rubin founded the Research Institute for the Study of
Man and its primary goals were to field train students, support
Caribbean based scholars, and perform multidisciplinary research
in the English-speaking Caribbean. The initial project of the Institute
was the "Research and Training Program for the Study of Man
in the Tropics" at Columbia University. From 1955 to 1958,
twelve graduate students were trained in anthropological fieldwork
in various Caribbean polities. All of the students, including four
women, went on to complete the doctorate. The latter fact is important
since Rubin funded field research conducted by women during a time
when women received few of the available grants, a pattern she continued
throughout her career.
In 1958, Rubin moved the Institute from its initial location in
Columbia University to its present location on the Upper East Side
of Manhattan. From that time, RISM and its activities became the
central focus of her professional career. It is fair to say that
through RISM, and its collaborative activities and projects with
students and scholars, in the United States and in the Caribbean,
the anthropological study of the English-speaking Caribbean was
born and raised.
Even though, Rubin individually conducted research, RISM's research
enterprise was unique in that it was almost always collaborative
in approach while spanning several disciplines and fields of study.
Multidisciplinary studies were carried out in social and medical
anthropology, mental and public health, demography, gender studies,
psychiatry, and geriatrics.
Rubin also worked collaboratively to organize major conferences
on the Caribbean. The conferences and subsequent publications stimulated
international, multidisciplinary scholarship and strongly influenced
future research agendas on the Caribbean. Her last conference, held
in August 1984, exemplifies the collaborative nature and interdisciplinary
approach to research. RISM, in collaboration with the City University
of New York, organized a five day conference entitled "New Perspectives
on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century." This conference
identified future research directions in Caribbean Area Studies.
Separate panels were devoted to plantation society, social stratification,
applied issues in social organization, ethnicity, nationalism and
creativity, political economy and sociocultural change, public health,
agriculture and and new technologies, migration, and the Caribbean
Basin Initiative. Seventy-four papers were presented. More than
one hundred scholars, physical and social scientists, political
figures, medical professionals, teachers, artists, and others from
Africa, Australia, South and Central America, Mexico, the Hispanic
and non-Hispanic Caribbean, the United States and Canada attended
the conference.
Rubin played an active role in several professional organizations.
She participated in the founding of the Society for Medical Anthropology
and was a co-founder of the journal Transcultural Psychiatry.
She also served as president of the Society for Applied Anthropology,
was committee chair of the American Orthopsychiatric Association,
and vice-chair and chair of the anthropology section of the New
York Academy of Sciences. At the time of her death in 1985, she
was president-elect of the Caribbean Studies Association.
For her contributions to Caribbean studies, Rubin received honorary
doctorates from Brooklyn College (Doctor of Humane Letters, Lh.D.)
in 1981 and the University of the West Indies (Doctor of Letters,
D.Litt.) in 1985.
References
1985. Comitas, Lambros. Vera Rubin Memorial
1985. Wood - Saunders, Lucie. "Vera Dourmashkin Rubin."
Women Anthropologists: Selected Biographies. Gacs, Ute, Aisha
Khan, Jerrie McIntyre and Ruth Weinberg, eds. pp. 316-321. Chicago:
University of Illinois Press.
Selected Works by Vera Rubin
1951. Fifty Years in Rootville: A Study in the Dynamics of
Acculturation of an Italian Immigrant Group in a Rural Community.
Boston: Eagle Enterprises.
1957. Caribbean Studies: A Symposium. Mona, Jamaica: University
College of the West Indies. (As editor)
1959a. Plantation Systems of the New World. Washington,
D.C.: Pan American Union. (As editor)
1959b. "Approaches to the Study of National Characteristics
in a Multicultural Society." International Journal of Social
Psychiatry 5 (1): 20-26.
1959c. "Family Attitudes and Aspirations of Trinidad Youth."
Proceedings, Second Caribbean Conference for Mental Health.
pp. 59-91. St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
1960a. "Cultural Perspectives in Caribbean Research".
In Caribbean Studies: A Symposium. pp. 110-22. Seattle: University
of Washington Press.
1960b. Caribbean Studies: A Symposium. Seattle: University
of Washington Press. (As editor)
1960c. "Social and Cultural Pluralism in the Caribbean."
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 83 (5): 761-916.
(Also, As editor)
1961a. "The Adolescent: His Expectations and His Society."
Proceedings, Third Caribbean Conference for Mental Health.
pp. 56-71. Jamaica: University of the West Indies.
1961b. "Report on the Census of Mental Hospitals in the Caribbean."
Proceedings, Third Caribbean Conference for Mental Health.
pp. 224-28. Jamaica: University of the West Indies.
1961c. "Report on the Census of Mental Hospitals in the Caribbean."
Proceedings, World Federation for Mental Health. Paris.
1961d. Report on the Census of Caribbean Mental Hospitals.
New York: Research Institute for the Study of Man.
196le. "Culture, Society and Health." Annals of the
New York Academy of Sciences 87 (17): 783-1060 (Also, As editor)
1961f. "The Anthropology of Development." In Biennial
Review of Anthropology. Bernard Siegel, ed. pp. 120-59. Stanford,
Calif.: Stanford University Press.
1962a. "Culture, Politics and Race Relations." Social
and Economic Studies 11 (4): 43355.
1962b. "Overview--Cooperative Efforts Toward Community Mental
Health." Conference on Cooperation Toward Mental Health.
pp. 7-18. Trenton, NJ: Community Mental Health Services.
1964. "The Children of Poverty and Community Agencies."
Conference of Cooperative Effort Toward Improved Mental Health
Services for Children. pp. 7-20. Trenton, NJ: Community Mental
Health Services.
1965. "The West Indian Family: Retrospect and Prospect."
Proceedings, Fourth Caribbean Conference for Mental Health.
pp. 53-65. Curacao, N.A.
1975. Cannabis and Culture. The Hague: Mouton. (As editor)
1976. Cross-cultural Perspectives on Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis."
In The Therapeutic Potential for Marijuana. Sidney Cohen
and Richard C. Stillman, eds. pp. 1- 17. New York: Plenum Medical
Book Co.
1979. Bibliography of Cross-cultural Aspects of Human Aging
and Longevity: Report to the National Institute on Aging. New
York: Research Institute for the Study of Man.
1980. "Foreword." Voodoo Heritage in Haiti. Michel
Laguerre. Berkeley, Calif.: Sage Publications.
1981. Proceedings of the First Joint US-USSR Symposium on Aging
and Longevity: the first two years of Collaborative Effort in Abkhasia
and Kentucky. New York: International Research and Exchange
Board. (As editor)
Coauthored Works
Rubin, Vera and Lambros Comitas
1965. "The Caribbean As an Ethnographic Region: Theories and
Methodologies for the Study of Complex Societies." Proceedings
of the VII International Congress of Anthropology and Ethnology.
Unpublished ms. Moscow, USSR.
1972. Effects of Chronic Smoking of Cannabis in Jamaica.
A Report by the Research Institute for the Study of Man to the Center
for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental
Health, unpublished report.
1975. Ganja in Jamaica: A Medical Anthropological Study of Chronic
Marijuana Use. The Hague: Mouton.
Rubin, Vera, and Richard P. Schaedel, eds.
1975. The Haitian Potential: Research and Resources of Haiti.
New York: Teachers College Press.
Rubin, Vera and Arthur Tuden, eds.
1977. "Comparative Perspectives on Slavery in New World Plantation
Societies." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Vol. 292.
Rubin, Vera and Marisa Zavalloni
1969. We Wish to Be Looked Upon: A Study of the Aspirations
of Youth in a Developing Society. New York: Teachers College
Press.
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CURRICULUM VITAE
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NAME:
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VERA D. RUBIN
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ADDRESS:
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Research Institute for the Study of
Man 162 East 78th Street New York, New York 10021
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TELEPHONE:
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(212) 535-8448
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EDUCATION:
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B. S., 1930, New York University,
Washington Square College. Ph.D., 1952, Faculty of
Political Science, Columbia University.
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CURRENT
AFFILIATIONS:
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Director, Research Institute for the
Study of Man.
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Project Administrator, Cultural Factors
in Population Programs.
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Associate, Joint Program in Applied
Anthropology, Center for Education in Latin America, Teachers
College, Columbia University.
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PREVIOUS
TEACHING AND
RESEARCH
AFFILIATIONS:
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Hunter College (Lecturer), Department
of Anthropology.
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Cornell University Medical School (Research
Anthropologist), Midtown Manhattan Project.
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New York University (Lecturer), School
of Education.
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Columbia University (Research Associate),
Department of Anthropology: Director, Caribbean Seminar.
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Director, Research and Training Program
for the Study of Man in the Tropics: Inter-University Consortium.
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Brandeis University (Associate Professor),
Department of Anthropology.
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Postgraduate Center for Mental Health
(Visiting Lecturer), New York City.
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Project Administrator, Studyman Peace
Corps Project in Bolivia.
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Project Administrator, Peace Corps Training
Program for Jamaica
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Program Administrator, Inter-University
Caribbean Consortium (Columbia University, Brandeis University,
McGill University, University of Montreal and the University
of the West Indies).
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Project Administrator, RISM-University
of the West Indies study of effects of long-term chronic use
of cannabis in Jamaica, West Indies.
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CONSULTANTSHIPS:
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Committee Appointed to Review the Policy
of the University College of the West Indies, Jamaica.
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Caribbean Federation for Mental Health.
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Peace Corps, St. Lucia Training Program.
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Census Research Programme, University
of the West Indies.
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MEMBERSHIPS AND
FELLOWSHIPS:
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President, Society for Applied Anthropology.
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Honorary Fellow, New York Academy of
Sciences.
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Fellow, American Anthropological
Association.
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Fellow, American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
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Fellow, American Geographical Society.
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Fellow, The American Orthopsychiatric
Association.
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Chairman, Committee on Minority Problems
Chairman, Council on Social Issues.
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Director, The American Orthopsychiatric
Association.
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Chairman, National Committee on Interracial
Communications.
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Member, Joint Commission on Mental Health
of Children.
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Associate, University Seminar on Content
and Methods of the Social Sciences, Columbia University.
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Associate, University Seminar on Population
and Social Change, Columbia University.
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University Associate, Columbia University.
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Associate Fellow, Center for African
and African-American Studies, Atlanta University, Atlanta,
Ga.
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HONORARY
AWARDS:
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Doctor of Humane Letters (Lh.D) Brooklyn
College, CUNY. 1981.
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Doctor of Letters,(D.Litt) honoris causa,
University of West Indies, 1985.
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CONFERENCES ORGANIZED:
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1956
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Conference on Problems in Research in
the Caribbean, Research Institute for the Study of Man, American
Association for the Advancement of Science, New York.
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1957
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Seminar on Plantation Systems in the
New World, jointly with the Pan American Union, and the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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1959
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Social and Cultural Pluralism in the
Caribbean, The New York Academy of Sciences and the Research
Institute for the Study of Man, New York.
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1959
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Conference consultant, Caribbean Federation
for Mental Health: Children of the Caribbean: Their Mental
Health Needs, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
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1960
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Conference on Culture, Society and Health,
The New York Academy of Sciences and Research Institute for
the Study of Man, New York City.
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1961
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Conference on Political Sociology
in the British Caribbean, Research Institute for the Study
of Man, and Institute of Social and Economic Research, University
of the West Indies, Jamaica, W. I.
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1963
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Conference consultant, Caribbean Federation
for Mental Health: Family Relationships, Curaçao, N.A.
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1964
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Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Society
for Applied Anthropology, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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1965
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Use of Group Process in Interracial
Communications, National Institute of Mental Health and The
American Orthopsychiatric Association, Yonkers, New York.
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1967
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Conference consultant, The Impact of
Education on Human Development, The American Orthopsychiatric
Association and Department of Health, Education and Welfare,
Jamaica, W. I.
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1969
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Twenty-Eighth Annual meeting of the
Society for Applied Anthropology, Mexico City, Mexico.
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1973
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Conference on Cross Cultural Perspectives
on Cannabis, University of Chicago (preceding the IXth International
Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and
Ethnological Sciences).
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PUBLICATIONS:
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1951
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Fifty Years in Rootville: A Study
in the Dynamics of Acculturation of an Italian Immigrant group
in a Rurban Community. Boston:
Eagle Enterprises.
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1957
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Editor, Caribbean Studies: A Symposium,
1st ed. Mona, Jamaica: University College of the
West Indies.
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1959a
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Editor, Plantation Systems of the
New World. Washington: Pan
American Union.
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1959b
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"Approaches to the Study of National
Characteristics in a Multicultural Society," International
Journal of Social Psychiatry, 5:1 (summer): 20-26.
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1959c
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"Family Attitudes and Aspirations of
Trinidad Youth," Proceedings, Second Caribbean Conference
for Mental Health, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands: 59-91.
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1960a
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"Cultural Perspectives in Caribbean
Research," in Caribbean Studies: A Symposium (V. Rubin,
ed). 2d ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press:
110-12
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1960b
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Editor, Caribbean Studies: A Symposium,
2nd edition. Seattle: University of Washington
Press.
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1960c
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Editor, Social and Cultural Pluralism
in the Caribbean, New York: Annals of the New York Academy
of Sciences, 83:5: 761-916.
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1960d
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The West Indies.
American Oxford Encyclopedia.
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1960e
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"Colonialism, Nationalism, and Parochialism
in the West Indies," presented at the American Association
for the Advancement of Science Symposium on the Development
of New Nations.
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1961a
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"The Adolescent; his Expectations and
his Society," Proceedings, Third Caribbean Conference
for Mental Health, Jamaica: University of the West Indies:
56-71.
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1961b
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"Report on the Census of Mental Hospitals
in the Caribbean." Proceedings, Third Caribbean Conference
for Mental Health, Jamaica: University of the West Indies:
224-228.
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1961c
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"Report on the Census of Caribbean Mental
Hospitals," Paris, Proceedings, World Federation for
Mental Health.
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1961d
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Report on the Census of Caribbean
Mental Hospitals. New York: Research Institute for the
Study of Man.
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1961e
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Editor, Culture, Society and Health,
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 84:17: 783-1060.
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1961f
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"The Anthropology of Development,"
Biennial Review of Anthropology, Stanford University
Press: 120-159.
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1962a
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"Culture, Politics and Race Relations,"
Social and Economics Studies," 11:4, Jamaica: University
of the West Indies: 433-435.
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1962b
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"Overview–Cooperative Efforts toward
Community Mental Health," Address, Conference on
Cooperation toward Mental Health, Community Mental Services,
Trenton: New Jersey: 7-18.
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1964
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"The Children of Poverty and Community
Agencies," Address, Conference on Cooperative Effort toward
Improved Mental Health Services for Children, Community
Mental Health Services, Trenton: New Jersey: 7-20.
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1965a
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"The West Indian Family: Retrospect
and Prospect," Proceedings, Fourth Caribbean Conference
for Mental Health, Curaçao: N.A. (1963: 53-65.
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1965b
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"The Caribbean as an Ethnographic Region:
Theories and Methodologies for the Study of Complex Societies"
(with Lambros Comitas). Proceedings of the VII International
Congress of Anthropology and Ethnology, Moscow, U.S.S.R.
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1969
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We Wish to be Looked Upon; A Study
of the Aspirations of Youth in a Developing Society
(with Marisa Zavalloni) New York: Teachers College Press.
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1972
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Report on the Effects of Chronic
Smoking of Cannabis in Jamaica
(with Lambros Comitas), Department of Health, Education and
Welfare, National Institute of Mental Health, Center for Studies
of Narcotic and Drug Abuse.
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1975a
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Editor, The Haitian Potential: Research
and Resources of Haiti (with Richard P. Schaedel). New
York: Teachers College Press.
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1975b
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Editor, Cannabis and Culture.
The Hague: Mouton.
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1975c
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Ganja in Jamaica: A Medical Anthropological
Study of Chronic Marihuana Use
(with Lambros Comitas). The Hague: Mouton.
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1976a
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Ganja in Jamaica: The Effects of
Marijuana Use (with Lambros
Comitas). Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday. (Paperback)
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1976b
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"Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Therapeutic
Uses of Cannabis." In The Therapeutic Potential of Marihuana.
Sidney Cohen and Richard C. Stillman (eds). New York and London:
Plenum Medical Book Company.
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1977
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Editor, Comparative Perspectives
on Slavery in New World Plantation Societies (with Arthur
Tuden). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 292.
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1979
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Editor, Bibliography of Cross-Cultural
Aspects of Human Aging and Longevity: Report to the National
Institute on Aging, New York: Research Institute for the Study
of Man.
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1980
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"Foreword," Voodoo Heritage in Haiti,
Michel Laguerre. Berkeley, California: Sage Publications.
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1981
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Editor, Proceedings of the First
Joint US-USSR Symposium on Aging and Longevity. New York:
IREX.
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ADDENDUM (Partial)
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Member, National Advisory Board of Visitors
of the Proyecto de Estudiantes Orientadores, Universidad de
Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, 1968-1973.
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Consultant, World Federation for Mental
Health, 1972 -
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Member, Advisory Board NORML (National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws - United States),
1975 -
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Member, American Orthopsychiatric Association
Search Committee to Select a New Editor, 1976-1977.
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Member, Panel on Behavioral Sciences
of the Committee on a Study of National Needs for Biomedical
and Behavioral Research Personnel, National Research Council
Commission on Human Resources.
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Co-Vice Chair, Section of Anthropology,
The New York Academy of Sciences, 1976-77; Co-Chairperson
1978-1979.
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Conference Co-Coordinator, Conference
on Comparative Perspectives on Slavery in New World Plantation
Societies, The New York Academy of Sciences, 1976.
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Consultant-Panelist, National Endowment
for the Humanities, Division of Fellowships, 1977.
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Member, Awards Committee, The New York
Academy of Sciences, 1976-1977.
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Coordinator, Program for the comparative
US-USSR multidisciplinary study of the processes of
longevity, 1977-
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Member, Fellowship and Honorary Life
Membership Committee; and Section Activities Committee, The
New York Academy of Sciences, 1978-1979.
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Member, Board of Editors, Plantation
Society in the Americas, 1979—
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Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Social
and Economic Studies, Institute of Social and Economic Research,
University of the West Indies, Jamaica, West Indies.
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Panelist-Reviewer, National Endowment
for the Humanities, 1978.
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Member, Social Science Division Advisory
Committee, New York Academy of
Sciences, 1979
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U.S. General Coordinator, Project on
Long-living Populations, American Council on Learned Societies-Soviet
Academy of Sciences Commission on the Humanities and Social
Sciences, 1977-
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Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Ethnic
Groups: an International Periodical of Ethnic Studies, 1970-
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Member, Committee on International Applications
of Anthropology,
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Society for Applied Anthropology, 1982-
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Vice President, Caribbean Studies Association,
1984-
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Director, International Interdisciplinary
Conference on New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward
the 21st Century, and Prospects for Caribbean Basin, August
28 - September 1, 1984.
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