Track 1 I: Family background I: Born 1941 Malta, during siege. Parents had met in Berlin, where mother au pair to leading Jewish families. Both went on to Malta, after they married. I: Father Oxford graduate in German and French, teaching English in Berlin. Head of supplies in Malta. Bombing and hunger. JO's second name Melita after the island; brought up with hybrid identity. Has revisited and lectured there. I: When mother pregnant with second child evacuated to Egypt, sent on to Cape Town where child (Elaine) born, living with white Afrikaans family. Father run over by lorry, on crutches, came to Durban. Family sent with other British women by boat in convoy to Liverpool. Ships before and after them torpedoed, hundreds of women and children drowned. Band to greet them. These are indirect memories, family stories. First direct memory is arriving in Bristol station, greeted by grandmother with teddy bear. I: Mother's family upper bourgeois, rented beautiful house by Martock church, Somerset. Grandmother one of 17 children, parents died when she was a child. Stocker family, owned kaolin mines in Cornwall and china factory in Midlands. Arranged marriage at 18 to 'strange man', Branston Bradford, his family corn and coal merchants. She was fine operatic singer but he forbad her to sing. Then disappeared into alcoholism. Later came to live in part of Judith's widowed mother and sang again. Bourgeois women not allowed to develop their talents. I: Paternal grandmother also very gifted. Great-great-grandfather J. Beecham, artist and great grandfather Kenneth J. Beecham historian of Cirencester. Grandmother took to her bed, lay in back room of their Wimbledon house. Grandfather, civil servant, waited on her. Great reader but unable to go to university. Grandfather did send JO's father to Dulwich College [after winning scholarship]. Mother considered downwardly mobile in marrying father because he had insufficient property - his Oxford education disregarded. I: Never met grandfather Bradford, corn merchant, who was a friend of Thomas Hardy. I: Father's sister also brilliant and unrealised, worshipped father. Father's brother jealous, became alcoholic. I: Father died of polio when JO 9. Taught a year in school at East Grinstead, then a year at RAF Cranwell College, Lincs. He read French books to her as she sat on his knee, translating spontaneously. Cycling together. Last memory waving goodbye to him as they went on holiday in July expecting to see him in three days. Mother did not tell them he had polio [and in an iron lung for three months], said he had flu. Only September grandmother said father had been ill and was now 'happy', and they were to go to boarding school. Then in school told by other girls that father had died, and finally by mother on school visit. I: Told by matron not to cry. Felt 'I hate this culture', you cannot grieve: this led towards anthropology. Her later discussion of death rituals among Gypsies, and how Gypsy children not separated from knowledge of death. Photos of Gypsy children at funerals. [JO witnessed such funerals alongside the grieving children.] Lady Diana's death. I: Father had wanted her to go to grammar school and Oxford. But RAF paid for boarding school, where ideally aimed to become debutantes [or at least make upper class marriages]. I: Mother later took part-time social admin/sociology degree at LSE. Had been volunteer in Citizen's Advice Bureau, and WVS. After widowed got deposit on house, worked for old people's welfare in Hammersmith. Evening classes taught by a white Russian called Mr. Skidelsky, (not Robert Skidelsky, but an older postgraduate) 'the ultimate intellectual', prepared JO for Oxford entrance, also coached mother for A levels. She graduated 1958. Worked in as social worker in Stevenage, then taught at Battersea Poly, ended as lecturer at Surrey University. Did talk together a lot, but mother couldn't understand about the school, had had a governess. Hooked on ethnography, introduced JO to Marsden and Jackson [and Townsend]. I: At 15 JO insisted must leave the school. Godmother Kate Nicholson also a frustrated woman. JO reading under blanket at night. Took entrance to St Paul's, didn't pass but offered place because she had O levels already, turned it down because headmistress said it would prevent mother's evening work. Later wrote New Society article on 'Girls and their bodies' at suggestion of Paul Barker. Only years later explained this to mother. I: French mistress advised JO to go to university. Headmistress against this. By then had 12 O Levels, studying for 4 A Levels. I: Sister Elaine went to therapist in US for problems [in the 1980s], only then came to realise that their childhood had been abnormal. Very talented. Advised by science teacher to go to university. Later told JO, 'You saved me', by persuading mother to let her leave the school and go to Ealing Tech. Went to Trinity College, Dublin, First. Ph D at Imperial College on insects on cowpats. But always tormented because school had told her she was no good. I: Married, went to Brazil, husband worked for World Bank. Had children, he left her in relative poverty, but they have done well. Now in Exeter with new partner. Helps Judith with garden. Mutual bond. Mother at end of her life regretted sending them to boarding school. Mother's will. Contents of house, difficulty of sharing. As a child, Judith comforted Elaine in dormitory, so became a mother at 9. Elaine insisted her children went to day school, gave them compensatory love. I: Became close to mother at end of life. In 1976 mother retired, Elaine married, JO got first lectureship at Durham: which was traumatic experience of sexism. Library refused to give her a card, similarly blocked from eating in staff common room, assumed was a student. I: Mother liked qualitative research, but not well regarded by other staff, so advised students not to work with her. Wept at this. Judith shared understanding. Too heavy teaching load to write a doctorate. Support also from union and loyal students, but took early retirement. From childhood encouraged JO to get professional training, you can't depend on marriage. Suggested go to secretarial college, but contemporary had been to Sorbonne, and mother took up this idea. £20 term fees paid from grandmother's shares. I: So although failed French A Level went to Sorbonne to study French civilisation. Could read what she wanted, 'wandered free' in streets. Lecturers 'superstars'. Decided she wanted to go to Oxford. Mother found could get full grant from LEA. Tutored for entrance by Skidelsky. I: Mother 'had to fight to get employment'; 'rampant feminism'. Gave her J.S. Mill The Subjection of Women the night before JO went to Paris. Skidelsky radicalised them. He, JO and mother all opposed Suez Canal war. I: Geography of childhood: by boat to Liverpool; then East Grinstead, living in grandparents' house, while father taught in grammar school; then to Cranwell College, Lincs, living in tiny cottage near Ruskington. After father's death (1950), children to boarding school, mother to London for Hammersmith job, buying a house in Acton/Ealing. School education I: First school primary in East Grinstead and then in Ruskington. One teacher reported Judith 'brilliant'. Developed northern accents. Taught looped writing style, which boarding school said was maids' writing. Had to relearn this and also accent. I: Upper Chine School [1950-59], boarding school on Isle of Wight, a 'prison'. On recent visit found it closed, got it filmed; since bulldozed. School had elite students from Iran, Singapore, Canada etc. Learnt Persian from fellow student. Mimi Khalvati, pupil, has written poetry book, The Chine; JO has recorded interview with her. JO hated it from early on. Not allowed to cry, to grieve the loss of the most important person in her life. Had to retreat into her imagination. Hated the rules. Miss Passmore who stuck [index finger] into her back, 'stand up straight'. No arms on table. Emphasis on sport, but JO not sporty. Bodily control, hence relevance later of Foucault. Every book you wanted had to be approved by headmistress. No talking in passages, or after lights out. Electric bells rang every 20 minutes. Given 3 minutes to get up. 'Orders, orders, discipline, discipline'. I: Susan Caffery, later sociology lecturer, said that JO and she became intellectuals because they didn't fit in - not part of a normal nuclear family. School unable to handle pupils' crises. Friend Jenny went mad after grandfather died, school unable to recognise this. When JO broke her arm, told she was seeking attention because father had died. Elaine not attended to when broke foot. I: For JO most positively encouraging was French teacher. Aubrey de Selincourt (whose daughter married Christopher Robin), translator of Iliad, retired intellectual, also inspiring. A Levels in English Lang and Lit. But school didn't expect girls to go to university. School 'a preparation for dependence', to make a good marriage. Best friend Sue left at 16, very bitter. Elaine gave up career for husband and boys. I: Drawing on your own memories is unusual, but her Anthropology and Autobiography is now called 'classic'. Recent article, 'Written out and written in'. Oxford, St Hilda’s [1961-65] I: Did poorly in PPE finals, no good at unseen exams. Politics don Sybil Crowe, whose father Sir Eyre Crowe wrote the Zinoviev letter, very right wing, asked for essays not related to the course. Course poor, but fellow students outstanding: e.g. Bob Rowthorne, Sheila Rowbotham, Gareth Stedman Jones (at first boyfriend), Angus Hone, all on left. Amazing discussions, reading Marcuse and other books not on syllabus. Awarded 3rd, feels 'injustice', examiners sniggering at her at the viva. Ireland I: Fourth year boyfriend Hugh Brody also did poorly, 2nd, but nevertheless awarded sociology Ph D grant. Eventually chose to research demoralisation in the west of Ireland. First lived one year in Upper Heyford, with Hugh getting to know local working class [of whom has fine portrait 1960 by Maud Kennedy]. Hugh's advantage in being an outsider, Jewish and parents originally Austrian and Russian. Went with him as his 'wife' to Ireland, where she learnt about fieldwork. Had been teaching at Banbury Tech, then did postgraduate teaching certificate. When later went to Cambridge, Leach emphasised Malinowski, but JO felt she knew about fieldwork from own experience. I: Hugh good at getting on with locals, who called him 'Brady'. His supervisor had told him to go as a bachelor without JO, and pretend to be Catholic; but would have been revealed a fraud by confession. I: Later broke up with Hugh. When he published Inishkillane, no reference at all to JO, gave her the book in a pub saying she would be angry - 'I was written out!' She had 'eased' the way for the research, married men much more acceptable, and reported the women's conversations. Worked behind the bar, helped to bring in turf. Hugh was praised for autobiographical style, but no real description of the fieldwork. Recalls publication of Malinowski's diary. How do you validate fieldwork interpretations? Hugh saw west of Ireland as demoralisation, while JO saw stamina, ingenuity, persistence. Women invisible in his text. Autobiographical memory I: Her writing about the school draws on her own autobiographical memory. Shirley Ardener a key influence: suggested her first article on Gipsy women, and then her first talk on her school experience - January 1978 to Queen Elizabeth House seminar. Some women in audience very moved. Had to fight own despair in writing about these memories. This approach in anthropology supported by David Pocock, with idea of 'personal anthropology'; Paul Barker sent to her to review. I: Helen Callaway agreed to co-edit conference papers on Anthropology and Autobiography. Had been proposed as future theme at big open meeting of previous conference. Firth and Leach supported her, Anthony Cohen against. Track 2 I: Gave Phyllis Karberry Lecture [at Taylorian], organised by Oxford Gender Centre, 1989, celebrating individuals who don't fit in: Marie Grégoire in Normandy, Mr Busby at Heyford - tape recorded his memories, First World War deserter, Communist, atheist. Upper class anthropologists would not dream of talking to village locals. Sorbonne [1959-61] I: While at Sorbonne briefly lodged with family but found sharing with two English girls, so moved to Cercle Concordia, joining ex-schoolmate Mariam (Iranian), international hostel, with room of her own. For first time 'I could celebrate being an intellectual'. [At boarding school had] read Colin Wilson The Outsider - 'That was what I was'; through his influence read Camus, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, T.E. Lawrence. 'I read from dawn to dusk'. Kept sexually restrained, influence by Mariam who believed in one love for life. Parisians not open or welcoming. Visiting art galleries, cinemas. 'It was just a cultural paradise'. Returned to London to revise for Oxford entrance with Skidelsky, then back to Sorbonne. I: Courses based on French baccalauréat. French politics (Maurice Duverger), literature, geography, history, language. Read Balzac, Verlaine, Baudelaire, etc. Skiing holiday, met friend Hubert, drove to Mediterranean in a group. Met English girl in hostel, Margaret, (who was about to go to Cambridge) hitched around France together: she married (now Professor) John Parry, still friends. Oxford St Hilda’s [1961-65] I: Studying French and Latin. Difficulty of getting admitted after failing re-sit of Latin entrance exam. Latin proved a nightmare. Failed Prelims, but left-wing tutor, Gerry Fowler] later MP, coached her, and she passed re-sit. Then because of bad teaching in French, based on writing in English, decided to switch to PPE. [Hence four years at Oxford, funded by LEA.] I: Became socialist and atheist in France. Opposed Suez war and policies in Cyprus. At start in Paris, had attended Anglican church, but soon lost belief. Mariam also an influence. Demonstrations for Algerian freedom. Reading Le canard enchainé and The Second Sex. At Oxford started reading socialist texts including Marx. Joined Labour Club and CND in first term, met Bob Rowthorne then Gareth Stedman Jones in second year. Even before Oxford JO was thinking she wanted to see women in the Union. Women only allowed in balcony and could not speak. Befriended Roderick Floud, formed a committee, supported by Michael Beloff and Jonathan Aitken, toured colleges canvassing. First attempt lost. John Sparrow bussed in life members. A term later, the vote won. JO put her name down as first woman member, worldwide press coverage - but did not speak for some time. I: Significant tutors? None in French. In PPE, right-wing Miss Crowe. Notable lecturers Alastair Macintyre and A.L. Hart, although not about the syllabus. Through Gareth chose political theory with Steven Lukes and social theory with Brian Wilson. Steven 'threw me a landline', saying she had written the best essay he had heard on Marx: 'Steven gave me hope'. Wanted to do MA, which Miss Crowe opposed, but Steven backed JO. Many women tutors bitter and unadventurous. I: Mad social life, one woman for every nine men, wild time. Thought had met the love of her life, who went to prison for a demonstration, but turned out to be a serial seducer. Depressed. Gave up the idea of life-long love. Had many lovers, then a good time with Gareth, and after him with Hugh. At student later re-union, many said JO an inspiration. Girls found in bed with boyfriend expelled: college like a boarding school. Judith 'figurehead' of resistance. Track 3 Various research and teaching jobs [1965-70] I: Devastated by award of 3rd [would now be a 2:2]. Hugh Brody given SSRC studentship despite only 2nd. Better revision teaching for men. While in Heyford, part-time job with Henri Tajfel, psychologist on group mentality. Research was on children and racism. Worked in a Headington primary school recording children's racial attitudes. Did most of the research, but published by supervisor without JO's name. I: Second part-time job at Nuffield about building Cowley shopping centre. Questionnaire surveys in Cowley: valuable experience, interviewing white working class. All preset questions, except for final two inch space. Realised not enough space for people's personal opinions. In that era apparently some (especially male) Research assistants forging interview answers in cafes. I: JO' articles on fieldwork. Anthony Jackson insisted of publishing despite objections of reader Ralph Grillo that it was too anecdotal. JO's plan to write a campus novel. Young and Willmott in The Symmetrical Family do mention interviewers' names. Research assistants are like cash croppers, you provide the data, they write it up. Strength of Marsden's work that it does draw on autobiography to make sense of the material. I: Third term after graduating, teaching two days a week in Catholic Secondary Modern in Banbury, the only graduate on staff. Headmaster's question and answer method. He shocked by Mr Gradgrind style seen as absurd for those who had failed the 11 plus. But not put off teaching. I: One year after degree, Hugh Brody given permanent lectureship in Philosophy at Queen's Belfast. Judith commuted, now taking college teacher training certificate at Garnett College. Hugh proposed before he met women students. They had fallen out over 1967 war. He stayed only one year in Belfast, then came back to Oxford. I: After Garnett, JO taught day release students at Banbury Tech. Discovered Hugh had another woman, relationship broke. Meanwhile she had found another man, Jim Hopkins, philosopher, married. Judith with him 17 years till 1984 Became manic depressive. But supported JO doing anthropology. I: Got the taste for fieldwork with Hugh, but did not then see it as anthropology. He had no other permanent jobs. Went to London and then on to write about Canadian Inuit - so both later wrote about nomads. Mother had admired Margaret Mead. Earlier incident, Principal forbad JO to leave Oxford overnight at weekend to hear Margaret Mead. I: Got a job as babysitter for A.L. and Jennifer Hart, brain-damaged child: given free room, but gave up because child so undisciplined. Cambridge [1969-70] I: Jim elected fellow of King's, so JO moved to Cambridge - but he only moved there later after all. JO took Cambridge Certificate in Anthropology. Had been rejected by Godfrey Leinhardt for Oxford because of 3rd. Interviewed by Meyer Fortes. Edmund Leach her inspiration, two hours weekly in group of 5. Otherwise took undergraduate courses. I: Most influential teachers included Stanley Tambiah, Sri Lanka, biographer of Leach, brilliant lectures. Meyer Fortes less coherent but passionate. Students included Tim Ingold and Chris Fuller at Fortes weekly seminar. Story of Fortes picking her out at a party for determination. Leach inspirational; got to know him personally later on. JO living and working in rented garden office. Jack Goody chaotic lecturer, enthusiastic. At Asian seminars met John Parry. For her, Cambridge intellectually richer than Oxford. I: Attached to Newnham, but not comfortable there. Feels her accent is disliked. Recent contacts, raising funds and launching archive. Esther Goody refused to be her tutor [but much later secured publication of her book by Cambridge University Press in series of her husband Jack). Final terms secured CND friend Malcolm McLeod as tutor. No dissertation, less good at unseen exams. Underactive thyroid diagnosed much later [1997]. Researching The Traveller-Gypsies [1971-73] I: Saw advert for researcher on Gypsies and government policy from quango, Centre for Environmental Studies, London. Dozens of applicants. Before job interview found first census of Gypsies (1968) in Oxford City Library, which impressed the interviewer who had written it. Weak reference from Brian Wilson. But offered job, seen as hardworking and keen, but not 'a boffin', not dominating. Track 4 I: Appointed to research job because a social scientist, and anthropology deals with the exotic, but not for its method. Under Barbara Adams, based at Centre for Environmental Studies in Regents Park. Barbara gave her pile of local reports on Gypsies. JO realised these full of stereotypes, ranking them in terms of 'blood' and criminality. I: Then Barbara introduced her to Don Byrne, Herts county employee, liberal, in spirit of 1969 Act. He had allowed temporary site near St Albans to stay open. Photo of JO and her caravan which she shows at lectures: authority of the autobiographical I, 'That's where I lived', undermines critics. Triangular patch between dual carriageways. Court case between councils resulted in site having a warden. Introduced, posing as a friend rather than as a researcher, by Penny Vincent, who was working for Gypsy children. Met Norman McCabe, warden, and visited other sites with Penny. Patrick McNeill. I: Before long Norman went on holiday, and JO moved into his caravan as deputy. Took very full hand-written notes (which intends to donate to Newnham College, Cambridge). Later living in b & b, visiting daily. Don Byrne offered her a caravan on any site, but he was later upset by aspects of her later report: he assumed Gypsies would all want settlement, housing and employment, as did Barbara Adams. Difficulties when expected to collect rents, but let off this responsibility by Don. I: Barbara asked her to compose a questionnaire, a method which JO was against. Barbara then composed a 25-page schedule, including the question, 'Why do you travel', meaningless to a nomad. I: Importance of early accidental meetings, as with Jean, whose infant had been run over by careless lorry driver; would sit at night talking; gave her a detailed account of fortune telling (see chapter in Own and Other Culture). Some people do welcome outsiders. The people who talked most were partly of mixed culture: had lived parts of their lives in houses or were in army or from mixed parentage. The most articulate were those who had seen both sides, rather than the 'typical' Gypsy. I: To avoid being identified as a researcher, JO gave questionnaire to Penny, who administered it to families she knew; but JO realised many answers lies, such as denying had been married before. Barbara decided the interviews self-contradictory, so did not code them. JO feels quantitative method is more vulnerable to such false information. The more you generalise the more you lose detail. Barbara wanted tables, to influence government policy. Brilliant article by Leach contrasts a social survey of 52 villages with his own year's work in one village. The intensive study shows the overall system: e.g. that peasants now landless may be heirs to land. Inspired by Malinowski's tent in the Trobriand Islands. Pauline Lane. I: The quantitative method is 'inherently authoritarian'; but what of the colonial dimension of anthropology? This argument is addressed in Tala Asad, Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter. Wendy James, professor at Oxford, argued that anthropologists saw themselves as protectors of indigenous people against the colonial system. Perry Anderson's critique of Evans Pritchard, given access to Nuer because Colonial Office were worried about charismatic religious leaders. Similar dilemmas now for those working for NGOs. Gave lecture at LSE in honour of Obi Igwara, Nigerian colleague at Hull, but Obi's boyfriend was against JO, assuming her to be a racist. I: Contradictions between objectives of Herts CC and JO's understanding of Gypsies. Gypsy children misunderstood as deprived, when learning through work. Save the Children tried to get them painting. Ministry of Housing did not want Barbara to work on Gypsies, but on housing. Insufficient sites provided under 1969 Act, but very controlling, allowing eviction from unofficial sites. Barbara sympathetic but assumed Gypsies wanted integration, jobs and housing. JO saw they did not want integration, and that their culture was dynamic and resourceful. But some of them saw her as a spy. I: JO got close to them with Jean's help, her advice on clothing, not to show body. This has now changed. Dislikes stereotyping of 'My Gypsy Wedding' film. Instinctively changed pose: photo, standing next to a Gypsy, Beatrice, with same 'barrier pose'. (Article, 'Fieldwork embodied'.) I: Breakthrough when on second site. Again got close to people of mixed background, such as show people. Reena, literate, semi-separated from husband, who had lorry. JO learnt to drive, bought cheap van, with Reena began calling for scrap. Unsuccessfully tried to change her accent; then pretended collecting for Save the Children, until encountered their local secretary. This experience 'a liberation'. Learn to admire their skills, and learn from your own mistakes. I: Joined potato gang. Until 1990s Gypsies were responsible for most fruit-picking in England. Earlier, children allowed to miss school for harvesting. Occasion when mistaken by police for a Gypsy. Oxford neighbour anti-Gypsy. I: Sometimes helped to write letters. They could live without literacy. Ignored threatening content of eviction letters. I: Taking a pregnant woman to hospital. She was very against having twins - comparison with Nuer, who drowned twins. I: Listening to bereaved, as with Jean, a form of therapy. No photos of lost children. I: No separate language. Picked up words from listening. Linguists dislike her focus on words of different derivations. People's practices and beliefs should not be explained just in terms of origin. 'Pal' a Romany word. Jane Szurek encouraged her to draw on Marxist. Fall of feudalism. The language travelled from Eastern Europe independently of people. I: Some writers hostile because she is not Jewish: Yaron Matras has claimed that she had a 'self righteous crusade against Gipsy history', while others called her an 'enemy of the Romany people'. Ian Hancock on Romany as a creole language; now megastar in Texas, has retracted earlier view, very hostile to JO. Experience of anti-semitism drives victims to anti-Gypsyism. Cambridge conference, Leach supported her idea that Gypsies were recruited from fall of feudalism. JO never denied an Indian connection but contested that all Gypsies and their beliefs were Hindu and that they were all genetically from India. I: Meeting of concerned researchers (including Thomas Acton, sociologist) at Oxford, when JO threatened. Acton hates her accent and later confessed to someone he was jealous of the popularity of her subsequent book I: At Centre for Environmental Studies met Michael Harloe, working on impact of Swindon New Town - later on interview panel for Essex job. Protest led by Doreen Massey (geographer, helping US conscripts to escape) against research funds being used to study a minority. But David Donnison, Director, got money from Rowntree for Gypsy project. JO shocked by hostility of radicals, linguists. False myths that Gypsy customs come from India. I: No advice in literature then on how to write fieldnotes. Used headings - travel, kinship, etc. Advised from Malcolm McLeod in Cambridge: write down everything you see, you hear, you smell - an exercise book a day! Don't decide in advance what is relevant - unlike questionnaires. Interpretations confirmed by repetitions. I: Had details on 73 families. Convinced Barbara with this. Introduced her to other anthropologists, including Hugh Brody, who impressed her. Barbara got the notes typed. Then sub-classified, 12 photocopies cut up into themes with comments. Fulltime research assistants regrouped material into files, which answered all the questions of the questionnaire. Market researcher employed to put some of the numerical material into computer. I: Visit to Hull, helped by Arthur Ivatts, to see local Gypsies, the only group still horse-drawn - and seen more positively because of that. Farnham Reyfisch, first ethnographic study of European Gypsies, lived in a tent with Aberdeenshire Gypsies, but his Ph D failed. JO began relationship with Arthur Campbell and through him met Hamish Henderson. I: JO against idea that Scottish tinkers carry remnant of early Scottish Pictish culture. No sense of historical change or relationship to modern life. Scottish Travellers singing ordinary popular songs got drunk. At Cambridge had been told there were only two types of nomad, hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. JO argued a third, partially integrated, service nomads. Has been a pioneer in challenging myth of Gypsy Indian origin. Encounter with Hobsbawm, who asked her to write article for Past and Present, which would have been protective. Oxford D Phil [1973-6] I: Research turned into D. Phil. Difficulty in getting a grant. Malcolm McLeod supported. New professor Maurice Freedman (compromised between Rodney Needham and John Barnes), fearful of student rebels. First registered for B. Litt., for which interviewed by Edwin Ardener. He told her that to qualify as a resident she must prominently attend the fortnightly seminar, and go to pub afterwards. Godfrey Leinhardt, supervisor, flexible. Judith living on Gypsy camp. I: Disappointed that names of chapter authors removed from first book, Gypsies and Government Policy. Judith's chapters have been the most quoted. After publication, able to get a small grant from a special trust. Burning of a caravan after a death. Given stolen bag by woman she was helping, which helped JO's reputation with Gypsies, but not with academics. Given pool award for Ph D. No further fieldwork, but kept in touch with contacts. I: Lived first in a room in Headington. Bought a house in Oxford with Jim; then with sale of mother's house in Acton and Jim's parents bought three storey house in Islington for £12,000. I: Peer group - Kirsten Hastrup (now professor in Denmark), Martin Thom, Graham Clark (has died) - amazed that JO had already completed her fieldwork. Writing on pollution beliefs, which Barbara Adams thought mumbo jumbo. Days at library were deducted from her annual leave. I: Godfrey Leinhardt gave no intellectual direction. His student Ahmed al Shahi (Iraqi Kurd) has inherited his papers. Godfrey had Austrian father and English mother, brought up in Yorkshire. Totally supported JO. Alcoholic, as was EP: 'the Institute was sinking in alcoholism'. All boys pub culture. Rodney Needham and Edwin Ardener didn't speak, forbad their students to go to the other's seminars. Bitterness of Philomena Steady, whose supervisor would not let her write her own way. Godfrey allowed JO to go her way, and she stuck with him. I: Who gave her intellectual inspiration in Oxford? Shirley Ardener ran an all-women seminar, and suggested JO should write her paper on Gypsy women, later published in Perceiving Women. Track 5 Oxford Women’s Anthropology Group and International Gender Studies Centre [from 1970s-present] I: Oxford Women's Anthropology Group evolved from this seminar, started by feminist students in 1972. One pioneers Charlotte Hardman (worked in India, now at Durham). Judith joined 1973. Has mentioned in article [in Gendered Lessons in Ivory Towers, 2007] on how it was like a women's conscious-raising group. Not a cockfight, they hoped everyone would speak. Anthropology then very male (at Durham all lecturers men). Men would take over seminars without realising. Spoke at Warwick in 2011, 'Is Feminism Still Needed/' At Essex started the post-graduate seminar, chaired Edinburgh seminar. Male lecturer who set up students to mock woman speaker. Her own students referred to as 'Judith's eunuchs'. I: Interviews for new book include researchers from Afghanistan, Senegal; some references to former students, e.g. Clive Foster, who ran Borstal, did PhD on HIV in Edinburgh. Medical researchers very critical of his qualitative methods, but the HIV users told him, 'We want you to tell our story. [JO deliberately did not interview ex-students because wasnted to avoid power relations.] I: New intellectual directions from women's seminar? It was more a space for people to explore ideas in a supportive atmosphere. I: Still had not finished thesis when got Durham job in 1976. Came back to Oxford 1999. Thursday seminar, but this appears to be threatened by lack of institutional backing. Oxford full of highly qualified women who cannot get jobs. From 2001 Deputy Director [of the International Gender Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House], but concerned with seminars, not with administration. Sensational seminar series on Mediterranean run by Lydia Sciama. Another seminar on giving back, with John Parry and Tony Simpson. Hope to switch based on Lady Margaret Hall. JO spoke once at the famous Friday seminar in Oxford. Unusually, showed photos. Wendy James noticed the wreaths on chairs: the ghost is settled. I: The all-women's seminar was not at the Institute of Anthropology because Maurice Freedman objected to the exclusion of men - although belonged to All Souls, all-male college. So held instead at Queen Elizabeth House. Also anthropology/Islamic seminar at Centre for Islamic Studies, led by Mohammed Talib, whom JO has interviewed for book. She will give seminar on this in November. Durham [1976-81] I: Nine month job, extended twice. Support of David Brooks. Had to pretend had broken with Jim in order to be taken seriously for the interview for permanent job after two years there. Objections to appointing her with 3rd, but Durham had appointed a man with no first degree at all. Finally, presented as the first woman President of the Oxford Union. VC: 'Gentlemen, this is a very powerful lady'. Married women not shortlisted. Jim by now in and out of mental hospital, but JO never missed a class. I: Prejudice against studying Europe, because, as Maurice Bloch put it, 'We know it'. I: When came to Essex, welcomed and encouraged by Leonore Davidoff, who gave talk at Durham on feminist history. Anthropologists criticised JO for going to Essex. I: Not provided with accommodation at Durham. Rented terrace in miners' village. Retired miners adopted her, excursions, clubs, invited her to their homes - escape from college atmosphere. Later when had permanent job bought a terraced house in Durham city. Essex [1981-90] I: Already five women on Sociology staff at Essex, but felt not welcomed. Stayed six weeks with Gordon Marshall. Boarding school article resonated with Alison Scott, who had been to similar school: became 'close buddies'. I: Taught deviancy with 'delightful' Ken Plummer, from whom learnt about symbolic interactionism. Divisions within Marxism. Also taught qualitative methods course. Previously, with David Rose, this had been just reading novels. JO's key texts were W.H. Whyte, Street Corner Society, appendix; Ulf Hannerz, Soul Side, studies of ethnic neighbourhoods, and Michael Agar, The Professional Stranger, on the 'funnel method' - start open, then refine. Every researcher she has interviewed has changed focus in the field. JO against hypotheses before fieldwork. Better, to put down 'research questions'. At Essex saw the positivist side of methods at work, bullying students with merely six-week projects. I: Comments on first chapter of her book. Against anthropology as a fantasy copy of real science - Steven Rose on 'Physics envy'. Cuts in funding. Believes anthropological method is scientific. Ted Benton and Ian Craib did not push positivist methods. Andy Dawson interviewed staff over 55 and in groups for his thesis, given distinction by Frank Bechhofer, but felt he should pretend the group information came from individual interviews. Simone de Beauvoir: a Re-reading (1986) I: Thirty years after first publication, spoke at London celebration, quoting from her own 1961 notes on the book. Had lots of old files. Ursula Owen of Virago offered publication in Women Pioneers series. Decided to compare 1961 notes with 1980s thinking. By then much more literature on women: e.g. Rosaldo and Lamphere, Women, Culture and Society (law case and compensation over Lamphere's application for tenure at Brown. Nancy Lindisfarne (also a painter) who wrote The Limits of Masculinity was refused promotion at SOAS. I: JO checked each chapter with Virago. Earlier diary gave context, why the book appealed so much to women. But on re-reading seemed ethnocentric. Prefers Memoirs of a Young Girl. Simone escaped bourgeois destiny of marriage because her father went bankrupt, so Simone went to university. Feminists often come from downwardly mobile families, as JO herself. Power of the books is that is driven by hidden autobiography. JO not good at directing projects with grants where all depends on the assistants being trusted to do the research. Internet comments on her book. Given Czech medals. Battle with Virago over American publisher's wish to cut out all autobiographical references. Original translation by a biologist a travesty; new translation by two Parisian Americans is just out. Toril Moi's praise for JO's book, but American edition sold badly. Finding photos, some rejected. Normandy project [fieldwork 1985-6, with return visits including in 1995] I: Peter Riviere, her internal examiner, invited JO to join ESRC Ageing Initiative. Wanted to just study ageing in France, Normandy, but was asked to make it comparative with Britain - so chose Dedham, Essex [where she lived]. Interesting elderly neighbours. I: Again, research direction not predetermined: cf André Bretoon, L'Amour fou. Feminist writing on flaneurs: we wander, but open to what comes our way. Hortense Powdermaker, Stranger and Friend, brilliant about fieldwork. Has interviwed 22 anthropologists, cut and pasted hundred of hours of tape. I: Normandy landings. Paintings by Millet and Impressionists. There was some anthropology of French Mediterranean and Brittany, but little on Normandy. Not remote, 'the breadbasket or milk and cheese provider of Paris'. Flaubert lived there. So chose an area where she knew the literature but not the people. I: Dropped suggested contact with professor at Caen studying villages. Instead, drove through Normandy with Alan Campbell. Found former spa town, Forges les Eaux; in tourist office told they had 'too many old people'! France has high life expectancy. Rented a gite, a converted barn, finishing Simone de Beauvoir. Encountered Armistice Day ceremony in church, wreaths and band; joined procession to town hall. Through this, met wife of deputy mayor, and explained her purpose, comparison with England, which the mayor promptly announced at reception. Fantastic start to fieldwork. I: Mitterand giving funds for small clubs. In Forges, these dominated by middle classes. But also some village clubs; here met Jacqueline Grégoire, president of one club, small farmer. Informal questions as mode of entry: answering questions while plucking chicken. Finally she shifts to milking, and then teaches JO to hand-milk. Old trick, (learned from Hugh Brody) 'Can I help?' Introduced to cow. Took home three-legged stool. Eventually learnt how to milk, while Jacqueline photographed her: 'the return of the gaze'. At the end, drank her pure milk. Breakthrough. I: Changed JO's ideas on landscape, seen as used space. Never wrote intended monograph on this research. Has written on landscape. Started filming. Fabian had written Time and the Other, arguing that anthropologists have privileged the visual over other senses. Film, 'Les Enfants du paradis', Jean-Louis Barraud as clown: 'Tout le monde l'a regardee, mais moi j'étais le seul à la voir'. Similarly Jacqueline sees apple trees which produce cider, grass which produces milk, a worked landscape. Millet's peasants. Spoke of this in inaugural lecture at Hull. Jacqueline gave her the peasant view of the landscape. John Berger, Ways of Seeing. But researcher needed more time. Locals wanted to keep variety of apples. Contrasting emptiness of agribusiness landscapes. Filmed landscape, poplars. I: Dictated fieldnotes onto tape recorder, typed by secretary at Essex. Notes only; no recording directly except at the end of Jacqueline, whom by then knew well. Notes on 60 people in the main club. Knew others in Maisons de Retraite, but they spoke little. I: Main effort in Normandy. Some work in Essex, visiting Dedham club, outings and fetes. Had intended complete books on French fieldwork and on methods, but instead published articles. Heavy load of dissertations left over from being SOAS external when awarded 1995/6 ESRC Senior Fellowship. Refused to send draft of methods book to ESRC. Present book project started with 4-hour recording of Brian Morris (Goldsmiths) on his fieldwork in India. Track 6 Methods book : Anthropological Practice: Fieldwork and the Ethnographic Method (Berg, in press) I: Agar said, you take with you into the field your life experience and your last book. Love of French painting. In the field, you have to trust yourself. A woman researcher will spend more time with women. Problems with Berg: book not a DIY manual for first year readership. I: Started thinking about fieldwork book early 1990s at suggestion of Richard Wilson, who offered publication with Zed Press. But switched to larger publisher. Later interviews with Joanna Overing, Malcolm McLeod, Louise de la Gorgendière, Signe Howell. The interviews came to dominate the book. I: Chose people she knew, found interviewing stranger unrewarding. Ann Oakley on interviewing women. Common themes in interviews: all changed focus in the field. Role of chance and accident. Article on theme of Freud [Okely 2011], 'Fieldwork as free association'. Significance of mishearing: story of French anthropologist, EP and Malcolm McLeod. Interviewed 22 anthropologists for book. Transcriber could not understand Alan's Highland accent. Looking for people with varied backgrounds. Professor Talib, met through attending his Oxford lectures on Islam because JO was supervising an Egyptian student at Hull and she wanted more context. JO could attend on Mondays before travelling to Hull Helene Neveu has a Senegalese father and French mother, but brought up in France. Sixteen nationalities, all recorded in English. Edinburgh [1990-6] I: Left Essex 1990, to be with Alan Campbell in Edinburgh; transfer arranged by Anthony Cohen. Mary McIntosh head of Sociology at Essex; deal to secure replacement. At Edinburgh more teaching: first year anthropology, and ethnographic methods for MA. I: JO had broken up with Jim Hopkins 1984. He had serious breakdown, went daily to psychoanalyst, serial womaniser. She became depressed. Story of visit with Jim to rich couple who wanted to set up free love commune. Student from Qatar forced by torture to become ambassador. Earlier, stepdaughter had moved into their house; truanted, pub adventures, Jim had no control as parent. Next week met Alan. Used to phone Jim daily, see him every other weekend. Visit from Janet Sayers, who recognised Jim as the 'erotomaniac' described in an article published by his famous therapist. I: Loved teaching at Edinburgh. Four year degree, with dissertation in third year. But students very upper class. Bought flat next door to Alan in High St, but being in same department destroyed relationship. His brilliant research on Waiampi in Brazil. Big intellectual arguments. Conflicts over departmental issues, he would not compromise - stood out against corruption. Unfair granting of First to male student, favoured above two women with better marks. Alan then resigned as Examinations Officer, but penalised for this. Joint life became impossible, moved to house in suburbs. Alan spread false rumours she was Lesbian. Anti-English attitudes common in Edinburgh. Hull [1996-2004] I: Persuaded to move to Hull for Chair by Andy Dawson. Liked teaching working class students from state schools. Joint sociology and anthropology degree. First year, had to do ethnographic survey, which got students interested in anthropology. How men and women students wrote differently. Taught course on 'Visualism and anthropology': museums, films, landscape, the body in art. Brilliant woman student from Pakistan. Recruited students through clearing. I: Story of closure of department, partly due to a colleague. Given very low grade in RAE, most staff left, and JO took early retirement. Leisure I: Never switches off as an intellectual. Likes walking, wild life/nature, socialising, theatre, music, TV. Much to do in Oxford. Travelling to lecture. Saga Holidays with friend, including to Africa and Cuba. I: Worst thing losing her father, not being allowed to see him. I: Best thing discovering anthropology. I: Mother had a series of Caribbean lodgers from late 1950s, through whom JO became at ease with people of different cultures. Meeting Malcolm X. As undergraduate JO had relationship with famous Jamaican, Eric Abrams, first black President of Oxford Union. Mixed couple then shocking.