Laura Nader (born February 16, 1930) is an American anthropologist. She has been a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley since 1960. She was the first woman to receive a tenure-track position in the department. She is also the older sister of U.S. activist, consumer advocate, and frequent third-party candidate Ralph Nader, and the younger sister of community advocate Shafeek Nader and social scientist Claire Nader.

Early life and education

Nader is a native of Winsted, Connecticut. Her father Nathra owned a restaurant/store in Connecticut, which served as a place for many political discussions. Her mother, Rose, was a schoolteacher who had a strong interest in justice and would express her views in letters to the press. Her late brother, Shafeek; her older sister, Claire and her younger brother, Ralph have all had careers working for the public good. Gamal Nkrumah (2005) profiled Dr. Nader in the weekly online news out of Egypt and commented on her loyalties to her father who emigrated from Lebanon for political reasons, “Nader is very much her father's daughter. And it was her elder brother who first suggested she read anthropology at university."

Nader received a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Wells College in Aurora, New York in 1952. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard University (Radcliffe College) in 1961 under the mentorship of Clyde Kluckhohn. Nader has coined the term "trustanoia" to describe the antonym of paranoia and the state of Americans' feeling of trust of others. She contends that people in the United States trust that there is always someone there to take care of them, and that everyone (including legislators and politicians) acts in their interest.

Studying up

One of Nader's best-known contributions was her highly controversial 1969 article, "Up the anthropologist--Perspectives gained from studying up," which was "one of the first calls to anthropologists to think more about the 'study of the colonizers rather than the colonized, the culture of power rather than the culture of the powerless, the culture of affluence rather than the culture of poverty.'" This article influenced many anthropologists to begin "studying up," though many more misinterpreted Nader without studying "down" and "sideways." Nader's works for the field of anthropology and discipline have led her to be described as "the embodied moral conscience of post-Boasian American anthropology."

Awards

  • Morgan Spanish Prize, Wells College
  • Wells College Alumnae Award, Wells College
  • Radcliffe College Alumnae Award
  • Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
  • Woodrow Wilson Center for Advanced Study in Washington, D.C.
  • Harry Kalven Prize (1995), Law and Society Association
  • American Anthropological Association, Distinguished Lecture Award (2000), American Anthropological Association [https://web.archive.org/web/20070607091408/http://aaanet.org/committees/awards/awards.htm]
  • CoGEA (Committee on Gender Equity in Anthropology) Award (aka "The Squeaky Wheel Award") (2010)

Publications

Nader is the author or coauthor of over 280 published books and articles, including:

  • . Reprinted in 1996 , 2002 and 2005 .
  • Reprinted in 2005 .
  • Printed in 2008 .
  • Laura Nader (2010). "Side by Side: The Other Is Not Mute" in Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation. Adel Iskandar and Hakem Al Rustom, editors. University of California Press.

Films

  • Laura Nader (1966) To Make the Balance 33 min.
  • Laura Nader (1980) Little Injustices- Laura Nader Looks at the Law 60 min.
  • Laura Nader (2011) Losing Knowledge: Fifty Years of Change 40 min.

References

  • Laura Nader oral history interview.
  • Laura Nader's biosketch at UC-Berkeley
  • The Drift to War; Laura Nader, Interviewed by John M. Whiteley
  • Q and A: A Conversation with Laura Nader
  • Laura Nader: Speaking out. When silence is part of the problem (Al-Ahram Weekly)
  • Laura Nader: What's Good About Conflict? (Anthropology News)
  • Laura Nader keynote address at American University Fifth Annual Public Anthropology Conference