Alan Macfarlane

Sir Alan Macfarlane is a British anthropologist and historian whose long career at Cambridge has produced influential studies of the origins of modern individualism, capitalism and social change. Becoming an Anthropologist is his intellectual autobiography, tracing the fieldwork, archives and friendships behind his major books.

A fellow of King's College, Cambridge, for more than four decades, Macfarlane conducted fieldwork in Nepal, Japan and China and wrote landmark works such as The Origins of English Individualism. His memoir combines personal candour with a vivid portrait of an academic life spent crossing disciplines.