Kathleen Gough

Eleanor Kathleen Gough Aberle (16 August 1925 - 8 September 1990) was a British anthropologist who was known for her work in South Asia and South-East Asia. As a part of her doctorate work, she did field research in Malabar district from 1947 to 1949. She did further research in Tanjore district from 1950 to 1953 and again in 1976, and in Vietnam in 1976. She was known for her Marxist leanings and was on the watchlist of the FBI.

Field work in Asia

From 1947 to 1953, Gough did extensive anthropological research in India, primarily in the Malabar district from 1947 to 1949 and Tanjore district from 1950 to 1953. She returned to India in 1976 and it was after this visit that most of her research work on India were published. She was employed at teaching positions at Brandeis University from 1961 to 1963, the University of Oregon from 1963 to 1967 and Simon Fraser University from 1967 to 1970. She was an Honorary Research Associate at the University of British Columbia from 1974 until her death in 1990.

Politics

Gough was a Marxist and the responses of some university administrations to her leftist leanings sometimes landed her in trouble. She supported Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis and was outspoken in her condemnation of police brutalities. As a result most of the stipulated pay hikes during her teaching career were cancelled. Moreover, Gough's membership in the Johnson-Forest Tendency and her work for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam triggered the interest of the FBI, who placed her and her husband on their watchlist.

Works

Some of Gough's more important works include More Beautiful: The Rebuilding of Vietnam (1978), Rural Society in Southeast India (1981), Rural Change in Southeast India, 1950s-1980s (1989) and Political Economy in Vietnam (1990).

• The Traditional Kinship System of the Nayars of Malabar. Harvard University. 1954. 
• Cult of the dead among the Nayars. 1958. 
• Anthropology and Imperialism. Radical Education Project. 1960. 
• Nayar:Central Kerala. University of California Press. 1961. 
• Matrilineal Kinship. University of California. 1961. 
• The Decline of the State and the Coming of World Society: An Optimist's View of the Future. Correspondence Publishing Company. 1962. 
• Female Initiation Rites on the Malabar Coast. 1965. 
• Literacy in Traditional Societies. University Press. 1968. 
• Caste in a Tanjore Village. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University Press. 1969. 
• The Struggle at Simon Fraser University. Thurston Taylor. 1970. 
• Imperialism and Revolution in South Asia. Monthly Review Press. 1973. ISBN 0853452733, ISBN 978-0-85345-273-7. 
• The Origin of the Family. New Hogtown Press. 1973. 
• Class developments in South India. Centre for Developing-Area Studies, McGill University. 1975. 
• Growing herbs and plants for dyeing. Unicorn Books & Crafts. 1977. ISBN 091045812X, ISBN 978-0-910458-12-2. 
• Ten times more beautiful:The Rebuilding of Vietnam. Monthly Review Press. 1978. ISBN 0853454647, ISBN 978-0-85345-464-9. 
• Dravidian Kinship and Modes of Production. Indian Council of Social Science Research. 1978. 
• Rural Society in Southeast India. Cambridge University Press. 1981. ISBN 0521238897, ISBN 978-0-521-23889-2. 
• Southeast Asia: Facing the Challenge of Socialist Construction. Synthesis Publications. 1986. 
• Rural Change in Southeast India:1950s to 1980s. Oxford University Press. 1989. ISBN 0195622766, ISBN 978-0-19-562276-8. 
• Political Economy in Vietnam. Folklore Institute. 1990. 
• Class and Power in a Punjabi Village. ISBN 0853453853, ISBN 978-0-85345-385-7. 
• Women in Asia. WIRE. 

Further reading

• Mencher, Joan. "Kathleen Gough and Research in Kerala". Anthropologica (Canadian Anthropology Society) 35 (2). JSTOR 25605731.  (subscription required)