Whitten, Norman E. (1937-) | University of Illinois Archives

Norman E. Whitten, Jr. (1937- ) is a professor emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Illinois. Professor Whitten is internationally recognized for his research on Afro-Latin and Indigenous peoples of the Upper Amazonian Rainforest, most notably the Canelos Quichua. He has published articles and books, including Histories of the Present: People and Power in Ecuador (with Dorothea [Sibby] Scott Whitten, 2011), and Puyo Runa: Imagery and Power in Modern Amazonia (2008), and Millennial Ecuador: Critical Essays on Cultural Transformations and Social Dynamics (2003). In 1975, Professor Whitten and his wife, Dorothea (Sibby) Scott Whitten (1930-2011), cofounded the Sacha Runa Research Foundation, a not for profit organization to support research among ethnically identifiable peoples of Ecuador; to promote recognition of aesthetic values and cultural traditions of these peoples; to fund a medical-care; and to disseminate relevant research reports and publications.

Norman E. Whitten, Jr. was born in 1937 in Orange, New Jersey. He graduated Cum Laude from Colgate University in 1959 with degrees in anthropology and sociology. Whitten completed his master's (1961) and PhD (1965) degrees in anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, he met Dorothea (Sibby) Scott, a master's student in sociology. The two married on August 2, 1962.

Upon graduating from the University of North Carolina, Professor Whitten worked as an assistant professor of anthropology at Washington University, St. Louis. He was granted tenure in 1968. In 1970, he accepted a position as an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his tenure at Illinois, Professor Whitten served as the Department Head of Anthropology (1983-1986), the Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (2000-2003), and a curator for the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures (1998-present). He also served as an adjunct professor of Anthropology and International Studies at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador) and has served on its Board of Trustees since 2006.

Norman E. and Dorothea (Sibby) Scott Whitten began living and working with the Canelos Quichua and Achuar Jivaroan indigenous people of Amazonian Ecuador in 1968. Prior to then, they conducted fieldwork among African-descended peoples in the United States, Colombia, and Canada. Norman and Dorothea (Sibby) Scott Whitten collaborated on several books and articles together. Most recently, Norman Whitten published a reflective memoir titled Patterns through Time: An Ethnographer's Quest and Journey (2017), which explores the relationship between ethnographic fieldwork and theory and reflects on the future of anthropology. Over the decades, Norman Whitten has edited several journals and served on the executive boards of numerous professional organizations, including the American Anthropological Association, the American Ethnological Society, and the Central States Anthropological Society. As well, Norman and Dorothea (Sibby) S. Whitten together organizde major museum exhibitions in North and South America, including a permanent exhibit of over 900 objects at the University of Illinois's Spurlock Museum.

Professor Whitten retired in 2003. He continues to publish materials on the indigenous peoples of Ecuador and anthropological theory. Dorothea (Sibby) S. Whitten passed away on August 8, 2011.