David W. Brokensha

David Warwick Brokensha (23 May 1923 – 15 June 2017) was a South African anthropologist and university professor, known for his work on Indigenous development and cultures in Africa.

Early life and education Brokensha was born in Durban, Union of South Africa on 23 May 1923. His father was a lawyer (and later judge), while his mother was a nursing sister from Lancashire in England; they married in 1915. His paternal grandfather was from Cornwall and had moved to the area in 1870.

Brokensha attended Durban Preparatory High School and Durban High School, where he edited the school magazine and was secretary of the Debating Society.

In 1947, he won an Elsie Ballot scholarship to study economics at Cambridge University.

In 1963, he moved to the United States and joined the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. At the same time, he lectured in education and sociology, and trained Peace Corps volunteers. He joined the University of California, Santa Barbara's Anthropology department in 1966. Riley eventually joined him there as a member of the Geography department and later as a lecturer in Environmental Studies. In June 1954, he met Bernard Riley at the Tanga Yacht Club in modern-day Tanzania. Riley had been in the British Intelligence Corps during the war, before taking up a high school teaching post in Tanga. Despite homosexuality being illegal during a large proportion of their relationship, they remained together.

Selected works Articles

(with A. Peter Castro and Dan Taylor) (with A. Peter Castro)

Books

(with Bernard Riley) (with Leendert Jan Slikkerveer, Dennis M. Warren, and Wim Dechering)

(with A. Peter Castro and Dan Taylor)