Peter A. Munch

Munch published mainly in the field of cultural anthropology, agricultural and maritime sociology and gave 1960-64 The Sociological Quarterly out. He was also, inter alia, appointed to the Norwegian Academy of Science.

Life

He studied in Oslo, acquired in 1932 the academic degree of candidate of theology, and married in 1934 Helene Hansen Step ( a lifelong marriage with then three children). 1937-38 took Munch at the Norwegian Expedition to Tristan da Cunha in part. 1943-44 he was interned by the German occupying forces in the camp Grini in Oslo, then took up his studies again, published in 1945 (theoretically inspired by Ferdinand Tönnies ), his first book, the study Sociology of Tristan da Cunha in Dybwad (Oslo ), and 1946 Dr. phil. doctorate.

He then studied at the universities of Oxford and Wittenberg Semitic languages ​​and sat from 1947 his university career in the U.S. as a sociologist continued. In 1951 he was appointed professor at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks and 1957 at the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he worked until his retirement in 1984. His extensive collection on the islands of the South Atlantic is in the custody of the Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Publications

• Sociology of Tristan da Cunha. Results of the Norwegian Scientific Expedition to Tristan da Cunha, 1937-1938. Jacob Dybwad, Oslo 1945; 2nd edition: Ams Press, 1977, ISBN 0685873560th
• The Strange American Way: Letters of Caja Munch from Wiota, Wis., 1855-1859, with An American Adventure, . Excerpts from Vita Mea, in Autobiography Written in 1903 for His Children. Southern Illinois University Press, 1970, ISBN 978-0-8093-0440-0.
• The Song Tradition of Tristan da Cunha. Indiana University Research Center for the Language Sciences, 1970, ISBN 978-0-391-02076-4.
• Crisis in Utopia. The Ordeal of Tristan da Cunha. Crowell, 1971, ISBN 0-690-22075-8.