Ashley Montagu

Ashley Montagu ( born Israel Ehrenberg; born June 28, 1905 in London, United Kingdom, † November 26, 1999 in Princeton, New Jersey), was a British-American anthropologist and humanist. He became known among other things for his publications on human evolution, race, gender, and developmental psychology. In 1950 he was rapporteur of the UNESCO Statement on Race.

After a childhood in the East End of London, he began a 17 study of psychology and anthropology at University College London and at the London School of Economics, including Karl Pearson, Charles Spearman, Grafton Elliot Smith, Charles Gabriel Seligman and Bronislaw Malinowski. After graduation, he moved to Columbia University in New York, where he received his doctorate in 1936 with Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict on the ideas of reproduction in the Australian Aborigines. From 1941 to 1945 he chaired the anthropology department at Rutgers University. He lived in Princeton since 1949.

Works (selection)

His best-known books include physical contact ( Touching: The Human Significance of The Skin of 1971), a study on the importance of the skin as a tactile organ for social development of the people and The Natural Superiority of Women.