Luis Kemnitzer

For the artist, see Luis Camnitzer.
Kemnitzer wearing his Grammy Award medal

Luis Stowell[1] Kemnitzer (November 13, 1928 in Pasadena, California[2]– February 17, 2006) was an American anthropologist known for his social and political activism.

From 1967 to 1994,[3] Kemnitzer was a professor at San Francisco State University, where in 1969 he taught that institution's first course in American Indian Studies.[4][5] In this role, Kemnitzer visited Alcatraz Island during its occupation—which had been partially planned in his classroom,[6] and among whose participants were some of his students[2] (including Richard Oakes)[6] — to provide logistical advice on how to set up educational programs for Native American children on the island.[7]

Life and work

Kemnitzer began his academic career in the 1940s, studying public health at the University of California, Berkeley, but withdrew to become a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad.[2] His experiences in the labor force led him to join the Communist Party USA.[2] In the 1960s, he earned his doctorate in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania,[4] after writing a dissertation based on his experiences living among the Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.[2] He subsequently became director of the Lakota Language and Culture Center.[8] His published research included studies of syncretism among the Lakota;[9] railroad workers' time perception;[10] and needle exchange programmes.[11]

As an activist, Kemnitzer helped establish the first needle exchange programme in San Francisco's Tenderloin district;[4] and attempted to distribute condoms to Bohemian Grove attendees.[12] In 2005, he and his partner Moher Downing posed naked for the 2006 "Hotties of Harm Reduction" calendar. The 2007 calendar was dedicated to his memory after he died of lung cancer in February 2006.[13][14]

In 1997, Kemnitzer, who had for many years been an avid record collector,[15] helped create the liner notes for the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings reissue of Anthology of American Folk Music[16] (originally compiled by Harry Everett Smith, with whom Kemnitzer had been friends).[17] He subsequently shared in the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes.[2]

References

  1. ^ University of California Register, 1954-1955, with Announcements for 1955-1956, IN TWO VOLUMES: volume II, page 69; retrieved December 11, 2016
  2. ^ a b c d e f Luis Kemnitzer -- professor and social activist, by Marianne Costantinou, at the San Francisco Chronicle; published February 22, 2006; retrieved April 30, 2014
  3. ^ Campus Memo, volume 53, number 23 (item 4 - In memoriam: Luis Kemnitzer), at San Francisco State University; published February 27, 2006; retrieved May 2, 2014
  4. ^ a b c Grammy winning SF State professor dies: Lung cancer takes former anthropology professor Dr. Luis Kemnitzer Archived 2008-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, by Paulette Bleam, at San Francisco State University; published February 22, 2006; retrieved April 30, 2014
  5. ^ From Activism to Academics: The Evolution of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State 1968-2001, by Joely De La Torre; Indigenous Nations Studies Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2001; p 11-21
  6. ^ a b The Occupation of Alcatraz Island: Indian Self-determination and the Rise of Indian Activism, by Troy R. Johnson; published 1996 by University of Illinois Press (via Google Books); page 51
  7. ^ "Indians ask school on Alcatraz", in the Arizona Republic, page 87; December 4, 1969
  8. ^ Luis Kemnitzer, at the Lakota Language and Culture Center; published 2006; retrieved May 2, 2014
  9. ^ Kemnitzer, Luis S. (1970). "The cultural provenience of objects used in Yuwipi: A modern Teton Dakota healing ritual". Ethnos. 35 (1–4): 40–75. doi:10.1080/00141844.1970.9981023.
  10. ^ Kemnitzer, L. S. (1977). "Another View of Time and the Railroader". Anthropological Quarterly. 50 (1): 25–29. doi:10.2307/3317384. JSTOR 3317384.
  11. ^ Needle Exchange: East vs West, by Luis S. Kemnitzer and Moher Downing; in Anthropology News; Volume 35, Issue 3, page 4, March 1994; doi: 10.1111/an.1994.35.3.4.2
  12. ^ The State, at the Los Angeles Times; published July 13, 1987; retrieved April 30, 2014
  13. ^ "About the Hotties Calendar Project". Hotties of Harm Reduction. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  14. ^ Costantinou, Marianne Costantinou (22 February 2006). "Luis Kemnitzer—professor and social activist". SFGate. Archived from the original on 6 November 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  15. ^ Harry Smith: The Avant-garde in the American Vernacular, by Andrew Perchuk and Rani Singh; published 2010 by Getty Publications; page 249; "Luis Kemnitzer, like Smith an inveterate record collector"
  16. ^ Smithsonian Folkways - Anthology of American Folk Music, at Smithsonian Folkways; retrieved April 30, 2014
  17. ^ Moist, Kevin M. (2007). "Collecting, Collage, and Alchemy: The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music as Art and Cultural Intervention". American Studies. 48 (4): 111–127. doi:10.1353/ams.0.0085. JSTOR 40644108.