Kathleen Gough

Eleanor Kathleen Gough Aberle (16 August 1925 – 8 September 1990) was a British anthropologist and feminist who was known for her work in South Asia and South-East Asia. As a part of her doctorate work, she did field research in Malabar district from 1947 to 1949. She did further research in Tanjore district from 1950 to 1953 and again in 1976, and in Vietnam in 1976 and 1982. In addition, some of her work included campaign for nuclear disarmament, the civil rights movement, women's rights, the third world and the end of the Vietnam War. She was known for her Marxist leanings and was on an FBI watchlist.

Early life and education Kathleen Gough was born on 16 August 1925 in Hunsingore, a village near Wetherby in Yorkshire, England, that then had a population of 100, no electricity and no piped water. She had a brother and a half-sister. Her father, Albert, was a blacksmith who became involved in the introduction of agricultural machinery to the area and has been described by David Price as being a "working-class radical". In July 1947, while undertaking that research, she married Eric John Miller, who was also a student. The couple undertook anthropological fieldwork in Kerala. Gough initially was supervised by J. H. Hutton, whose work on caste in India was informed by early twentieth-century anthropological concerns about the origins of social institutions. After Hutton's retirement, British social anthropologist, Meyer Fortes, whose theoretical interests emphasised social structure, oversaw her work. Gough and Miller found the strain of fieldwork impacted on their marriage and they divorced amicably in 1950. She later, married fellow anthropologist David Aberle in 1955.

She returned to India in 1976 and it was after this visit that most of her research work on India was published. She visited Vietnam in the same year and again in 1982.

Politics Gough was a Marxist and the responses of some university administrations to her leftist leanings sometimes landed her in trouble. She supported Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and was outspoken in her condemnation of police brutalities. As a result, most of the stipulated pay hikes during her teaching career were cancelled. Moreover, Gough's membership in the Johnson-Forest Tendency and her work for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam triggered the interest of the FBI, who placed her and her husband on their watchlist. In addition, Gough was active in peace movements within Brandeis campus, specifically from 1961 to 1963.

Gough promoted the welfare of lower castes in India, hoping to bring them closer to the principles of Communism. Gough also strongly opposed upper castes who generally supported right-wing politics and anti-Marxism.

Works Some of Gough's more important works include Ten More Beautiful: The Rebuilding of Vietnam (1978), Rural Society in Southeast India (1981), Rural Change in Southeast India, 1950s–1980s (1989) and Political Economy in Vietnam (1990).

"The Social Structure of a Tanjore Village," In Village India: Studies in the Little Community, ed. by McKim Marriott. American Anthropological Association Memoir No. 843, pp. 36–52. "Brahman Kinship in a Tamil Village," American Anthropologist vol. 58: 826-53.

"Caste in a Tanjore Village." In Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon and North-West Pakistan. ed. by E. R. Leach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 11–60.

"Anthropology and Imperialism." Monthly Review 12:12-27.

Death She died from cancer in Vancouver on 8 September 1990 after a four-month illness. She was buried on 13 September 1990 at Capilano View cemetery.