Brian Ferguson

Brian Ferguson is a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University-Newark. He received his BA through PhD at Columbia University; his doctoral research investigated long-term socio-cultural change in Puerto Rico.

Beginning as a graduate student, he has spent a quarter century studying war and today is internationally recognized as a leading authority on tribal warfare. He has written articles on many aspects of war, appearing in publications from New York Newsday to Scientific American to Foreign Affairs. His 1995 book, Yanomami Warfare, has been widely accepted as the solid core within the recent controversy over scientific research among the Yanomami. Dr. Ferguson also studies the cultural history of policing and crime in New York City.

In 1992, Dr. Ferguson organized the Columbia Graduate Anthropology Alumni Association, the first such organization in American anthropology. During his eight years as its president, the organization became a catalytic center for innovative projects and perspectives. In 1999 he created the Working Group on Political Violence, War, and Peace at the Center for Global Change and Governance. He is developing plans for a series of international conferences with the United Nations University on ethnic violence, civil war, and genocide. He was co-vice chair of the Anthropology Section of the New York Academy of Sciences from 1993 to 1994, and co-chair from 1995 to 1996.