Hanks, Jane Richardson (b. 1908)

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Hanks, Jane Richardson (b. 1908)

American anthropologist. Born Jane Richardson, Aug 2, 1908, in Berkeley, CA; dau. of Leon Josiah Richardson (professor of Latin at UC, Berkeley); University of California, Berkeley, AB, 1930; Columbia University, PhD, 1943; m. Lucien Mason Hanks Jr. (anthropologist and psychologist); children: 3 sons.

Mentored by Alfred Kroeber, became his research assistant (1934); studied Kiowa Indians in Oklahoma (1935); performed research among Blackfoot in Alberta, Canada; during WWII, worked on Margaret Mead's study of food habits of national minorities; with husband, joined pioneering Bang Chan project in Thailand (early 1950s); became research associate at Cornell Research Center, Bangkok; served as associate director of Bennington-Cornell Survey of Hill Tribes of North Thailand (1960s); with husband, made regional study in Chiengrai province, Thailand (1963–64); served as Peace Corps consultant on Thailand (1964 and 1966); made significant contributions to ethnology of North American Indians and Southeast Asia.

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