Nigel Barley Biography

British writer on anthropology and travel; after gaining a doctorate in anthropology at Oxford, Barley taught at London University until 1978, when he left for two years in Cameroon. His researches provided a basis for The Innocent Anthropologist (1983), which was acclaimed for the accessibility and humour of its evocation of life among the Dowayo people. The book's witty critique of conventional anthropology is sustained in A Plague of Caterpillars (1986) and Not a Hazardous Sport (1988), which reflect Barley's experiences as a fieldworker and traveller in Indonesia. His other publications include Native Land (1990), on the rituals of English life; The Coast (1990), a humorous novel set in Nigeria; The Duke of Puddle Dock (1991), a work of travel and biography tracing the career of Sir Stamford Raffles; and Smashing Pots (1994), about African earthenware.