American anthropologist. Ph.D. at Columbia University, under Andrew Vayda (published as Pigs for the ancestors: Ritual in the ecology of a New Guinea people, 1968). Fieldwork (1962-64, 1981-82) among the Tsembaga Maring, Papua New Guinea. His research interests focus particularly on human ecology, ritual and religion. His work on self-regulating ecological systems and the sacred were influenced by Gregory Bateson. In his posthumous Holiness and humanity: Ritual in the making of religious life (1999) he engages with and substantially expands Émile Durkheim's classical work on sacrality. President of the American Anthropological Association 1987-89). Active in a number of national and international committees on environmental problems.