Annemarie Anrod Shimony, 1928-1995
Week of April 9, 2001

Professor of Anthropology Annemarie Shimony was a woman who actively participated in the most significant humanitarian movements of her era and also savored the responsibility of nurturing both her students and her family.
Born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1928, she emigrated to Great Britain in 1938 and, two years later, to the United States. She attended Senn High School in Chicago and then Northwestern University, from which she graduated, in 1950, with highest distinction. From Northwestern, she went directly to Yale University and was awarded the Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1958. Her dissertation formed the basis for Conservatism among the Iroquois at the Six Nations Reserve, a book that is still—in its expanded, 1994 reprint edition—a classic in the field of native American studies.

After launching her professorial career in 1958 with a three-year stint at Mt. Holyoke as Assistant Professor of Economics and Sociology, Shimony came to Wellesley, where she taught first in the Sociology Department and later in the Anthropology Department, which was formed largely due to her efforts. She lived near campus (with her husband, a professor of Philosophy and Physics at Boston University, and two sons), an arrangement that enabled the entire family to participate in College activities. It also meant that her gourmet-quality home cooking could often be enjoyed by students and colleagues.

Shimony's relationship with the Iroquois remained vigorous throughout her adult life. She regularly spent time on the Six Nations Reservation, in Canada, continuing to study the community — especially the role of the chief — and publish scholarly works. The Native American community's respect and affection for her culminated in her adoption as a member of the Cayuga Nation.

Her reputation among fellow anthropologists was such that she was able to obtain for the Wellesley College Library one of the finest private collections of books on Native American topics. These books were conveyed to the College by William N. Fenton, one of the foremost scholars in the field, as testimony to his admiration for Shimony’s work. Fenton noted, in regard to Conservatism among the Iroquois at the Six Nations Reserve, "Few have enjoyed better rapport with the old people of the Longhouse; no one has pushed these advantages as far for the advance of systematic ethnology; and none has contributed to a taller monograph."

All of Shimony's most noteworthy accomplishments, whether academic or political, express her passion for social justice, especially for the impoverished. During the 1960s, when she taught a popular course on African politics, her research took her to Nigeria, where she investigated the plight of the Biafran people. She was a leader in the effort to help the victims and resolve the crisis, testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1968. During this period, according to Professor of Anthropology Sally E. Merry '66, Shimony was "at the forefront of the social movements" of the decade: rights for people of color in South Africa and civil rights for African Americans. Shimony was Merry's honors thesis advisor, and that commitment to social justice was a major source of inspiration for Merry, who later was able to join her mentor as a member of the Anthropology Department.

Shimony was active in the anti-nuclear movement during the 1970s and 1980s, and in 1985 she was instrumental in the founding of Wellesley's Peace Studies Program (now the Peace and Justice Studies Program). As director of the program for almost a decade, Shimony persuaded many outstanding individuals, including several Nobel laureates, to visit the campus and speak to the College community. In the 1980s she lobbied at the United Nations for indigenous people's rights. Her international stature, her gift for making connections, and what Merry describes as "incredible energy"; all contributed to the Program's vitality, and to Shimony's influence far beyond the classroom.

Ordinarily, neither off-campus activities nor family responsibilities resulted in the sacrifice of classroom work. Merry recalls that the birth of a baby took Shimony away from teaching for only a week. And for those few days, her husband took her place in class.

When the seriousness of Shimony's final illness was recognized by her Wellesley colleagues, they organized a two-day symposium, "Native Americans, Social Justice, and the Practice of Anthropology," in her honor. Welcoming symposium participants, in May 1995, Katherine W. Davis Professor of Anthropology Philip L. Kohl defined Shimony's perspective by remarking, "Some colleagues of mine have even proposed the most elegant way of simplifying our multi-cultural requirements at Wellesley: just make Annemarie's introductory course in anthropology, Anthro. 104, mandatory for all." The symposium's sessions, such as "Native Americanist and Africanist Anthropology," further illuminated Shimony's interests.

She died in November of that year. Besides noting Shimony's "gifts of intellect, of spirit, and of love," President Diana Chapman Walsh spoke of her as "a reminder of how closely connected we all are, despite our varied pursuits."

Written by Sally Linden