Hortense Powdermaker(1900-1970)
Hortense Powdermaker (December 24, 1900 - June 16, 1970) was an American anthropologist best known for her ethnographic studies of African Americans in rural America and of Hollywood.
In 1938 she began working at Queens College, where she founded the departments of Anthropology and Sociology during a career spanning three decades. Subsequent research yielded Hollywood, the Dream Factory (1950), the first and still the only substantial anthropological study of the film industry. She then worked documenting the mining industry and the consumption of American media in Northern Rhodesia (Copper Town: Changing Africa, 1962).
In 1938 she began working at Queens College, where she founded the departments of Anthropology and Sociology during a career spanning three decades. Subsequent research yielded Hollywood, the Dream Factory (1950), the first and still the only substantial anthropological study of the film industry. She then worked documenting the mining industry and the consumption of American media in Northern Rhodesia (Copper Town: Changing Africa, 1962).