Robert Paynter, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
(1949-2023)
It is with sadness to share the news of Professor Emeritus Bob Paynter’s passing on April 30, 2023
For those who didn’t know him, Bob was a historical archaeologist who made profound contributions to this department, as well as to the discipline. He received his PhD from UMass in 1980 and taught here between 1981-2015 after a stint at Queens College and the Graduate Center at CUNY.
In terms of his intellectual legacy, Bob is best known for his use of critical theory and social activism within his investigation of the past. He made important contributions to the archaeology of capitalism, undertaking extensive historical archaeological research at two important sites - the W.E.B. Du Bois’ Home site and Deerfield Village.
On campus, he undertook critical work on repatriation and was deeply involved in the faculty union (MSP).
Those of us who knew him remember him as a tireless, kind, and generous mentor and colleague. His passing is a tremendous loss on so many levels and he will be greatly missed.
Obituary
Berkshire Eagle "Remembering Bob Paynter"
Oriol Pi Sunyer, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
(1930-2023)
Authored by Jackie Urla, for Inside UMass
Emeritus Professor Oriol Pi Sunyer passed away Tuesday, April 11, 2023, in Amherst. Professor Pi Sunyer had a long and distinguished career at UMass (1967-2008) and was one of the founding members of the Anthropology Department.
Oriol Pi-Sunyer was born in Barcelona on January 16, 1930, to a family of intellectuals, scientists, writers, and politicians. His father, Carles Pi i Sunyer was trained as an engineer and became a noted political leader in Catalonia, including Mayor of the city of Barcelona (1934-37) and Minister of Culture, in the Catalan Govern de la Generalitat, 1937-1940.
The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) sent Oriol and his family into exile, first to France, then to England, and finally to Latin America. He received his primary education in England, his undergraduate education at Mexico City College, and his PhD from Harvard in 1962. He did his dissertation fieldwork in Oaxaca, Mexico, on rural economy and social change. His first teaching position was at the University of New Brunswick, then he moved to what was then the Case Institute of Technology. He joined the University of Massachusetts in 1967, as a founding member of the newly formed anthropology department. Within the department, he helped to co-found the unique European Studies field school and supervised many cohorts of students in learning the fundamentals of ethnographic research.
Throughout his career, Professor Pi Sunyer turned his focus to the study of nationalism and collective identity in Catalonia. He made influential contributions to the study of ethnic nationalism while also continuing his interests in political economy. One of these was deeply influential not only in the US but in Europe as well: The Limits of Integration: Ethnicity and Nationalism in Modern Europe, Oriol Pi-Sunyer, ed., Department of Anthropology Research Reports Number 9, Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts, 1971. He was also a pioneering figure in the creation of tourism studies. With his colleagues UMass Brooke Thomas and Henry Geddes, and the late Mexican anthropologist Magalí Daltabuit, in the late 1980s he embarked on what became a 20-year longitudinal study of the Yucatan town of Tulum, now a fashionable tourist destination but all those years ago a ramshackle Wild-West sort of place.
One of the things that distinguished Oriol as a teacher was the care he put into the supervision of MA theses and Ph.D. dissertations, and his students remember him with great affection for this. He retired in 2008. In 2018, the Department created the Oriol Pi Sunyer Dissertation Prize in his honor. His passing is a profound loss to all who knew him.