UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 35, Page 4
June 25, 1992
Emeritus anthropologist receives national recognition

     Charles Leslie, professor emeritus of anthropology and the
humanities of the Center for Science and Culture, has been awarded the
Distinguished Service Award of the American Anthropological
Association for 1992, to be presented at its annual conference in San
Francisco in December.
     The award, established in 1976, recognizes "exceptional
contributions to anthropology, with respect to the increase and
dissemination of humanistic and scientific knowledge and/or service to
the profession." Previous winners have included such distinguished
anthropologists as Margaret Mead and Ashley Montagu.
     Leslie, who received a Ph.B., an M.A. and Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago, with post-doctoral studies focusing on South
Asia at the University of London's School of Oriental and African
Studies, came to the University in 1976 and retired in 1991.
     Currently, he is a visiting professor of medical anthropology at
Harvard Medical School and has been invited to continue in that
capacity next year.
     Author of numerous articles in his field, he has written or
edited five books, including Now We Are Civilized: A Study of the
World View of the Zapotec Indians of Mitla, Oaxaca, which has been
reprinted. His most recent work is Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge,
co-edited with Allan Young and published in 1992.
     According to Rivers Singleton, director of the Center for Science
and Culture, Leslie contributed greatly to the program as a "medical
anthropologist and humanist," whose research involved alternate ways
of approaching healing in different cultures, from Native American to
Asian. His courses, offered as a part of the medical humanities minor,
reviewed historical medical practices and related them to modern
medical issues.
     "Charles Leslie is almost a legend in his field, and those of us
who have worked with him at the center are pleased that he has
received this recognition, accorded only to the nation's leading
anthropologists," Singleton said.
     Heyward Brock, associate dean of arts and science and former
director of the center, said Leslie "did an outstanding job as senior
editor of anthropology for the journal Social Science and Medicine,
and was internationally respected as a leader in research dealing with
non-western traditions."
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure