Darrell A. Posey

Darrell Addison Posey (1947-2001) was an American anthropologist and biologist who vitalized the study of traditional knowledge of indigenous and folk populations in Brazil and other countries. He called his approach ethnobiology and combined research with respect for other cultures.

His obituary in The Times of 31 March 2001 (p. 25) described him as an "anthropologist who gave up scholarly detatchment to fight for the rights of native peoples." It states that he never married and was survived by his parents and brother.

An enduring testimony to his work was published as a 700 page volume in 1999 jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme and Itermediate Technology Publications under the title, "Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity". Darrell was the editor of this and it largely comprises of contributions from both western professionals and indigenous practitioners from around the world. It stands as a most remarkable testimony to the importance of spirituality as a core epistemological paradigm for many world cultures. As Klaus Topfer, then Executive Director of UNEP writes on the back cover, "This volume has one principal message. We must resolve to weave the life-sustaining customs of all diverse groups on earth into a resilient fabric that will protect the sanctity of all life."

Darrell's own back-cover description of the volume is as follows: "The dominant scientific and economic forces assume that traditional communities must change to meet 'modern' standards, but indigenous and traditional peoples feel the opposite must occur: science and industry must begin to respect local diversity and 'Sacred Balance'. Contributions throughout this volume support this position, and it may be that their views reflect those of the vast majority of people living in industrial, 'modern' societies. Global discourse would lead us to believe that conservation of biological diversity is of higest priority. If that were indeed so, then it is clear that highest priority should be given to the protection of those remaining cultures and societies that are struggling to preserve the precious biodiversity that remains in their care.

This paragraph (like others except the first on this page as of October 2007) was contributed by Alastair McIntosh of Scotland's Centre for Human Ecology. I name myself as what I want to say here may be controversial. Darrell Posey was from Kentucky but had close family links with Scotland. I was given to understand that he was of Scots Presbyterian stock. He was a close friend of the Centre for Human Ecology and my piece on biodiversity and geopoetics in the Celtic world is in his UNEP volume thanks to his encouraging. His death at only 53 was a very deep shock. So few people in the Academy are willing to take spirituality seriously and see its anthropological importance beyond the social conventions of religion. Some years ago, while speaking at Oxford University, I had occassion to ask a former research assistant of Darrell's if there was any suspicion of anything behind his death. His work was so important, and he was only 53 when he passed over. The researcher told me that Darrell had felt that a Brazilian sorcerer had been attacking him. Whether this has any connection, psychological or otherwise, with the illness that killed him, can never be said - and my informant was unable to say how heavily this may or may not have weighed on his mind during his illness. But I asked the question out of my own experience from having studied sorcerers in Papua New Guinea, and I think the incident is worth placing on the record with the strong proviso that it comes from nothing more than hunch endorsed by a passing conversation. Darrell was one of those rare academics who knew how to bring love into his work, and to make that the supreme value. Such a paradigm stirs both strong loyalties and strong enemies. His friends will always remember him and be grateful for the encouragement and sense of legitimisation that he conveyed.

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