Norman E. Whitten, Jr. Papers, 1958-2018 | University of Illinois Archives

Series 1: Personal Files, 1962-1986

This series contains Professor Whitten's curriculum vitae and personal files (Professor Whitten's label) of correspondence arranged chronologically.

Series 2: Professional Papers, 1958-2013                                             

This series contains correspondence, drafts, conference papers, lectures, course materials, meeting notes, anthropological association newsletters, and files relating to Professor Whitten's anthropological research on Ecuador, Nova Scotia, and the African Diaspora. Notably, this series also includes several of Dorothea S. Whitten's drafts, publications, conference presentations, and lectures. This series is organized alphabetically; courses are arranged by number and chronologically therein. Oversized materials are cross-referenced in folders and located in Box 14.

Series 3: Grant files, 1969-1999

This series contains grant applications, correspondence, and reports relating to the research of Norman and Dorothea Whitten, arranged alphabetically.

Series 4: Committees and Professional Service, 1966-2002

This series consists of correspondence, meeting notes, memos, reports, and schedules related to Norman Whitten's committee work and academic service. This series is arranged alphabetically.

Series 5: Exhibits, 1976-2011

This series contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and publicity materials related to museum exhibits and pottery demonstrations organized by Norman and Dorothea Whitten. This series is arranged chronologically.

Series 6: Publications, 1962-1993

This series contains articles authored and co-authored by Norman Whitten, arranged chronologically.

Series 7: Alfonso Chango Drawings and Papers, 1984-2009

This series consists of drawings by Alfonso Chango as well as relevant correspondence, newspaper clippings, and field notes. Alfonso Chango's book Yachaj Sami Yachachina is listed first, followed by his drawings, correspondence, clippings, and notes, all arranged chronologically.

Accession 2 (Summer 2024)

Series 8: Research and Field Work, 1959-2018: This series is arranged by subseries according to the geographic areas in which Whitten organized his ethnographic research materials, including Nova Scotia, Canada, and its Black Canadian communities; San Lorenzo, Ecuador, and Colombia, and their Afro-Latin American peoples; and the Upper Amazonian Rainforest region of Ecuador and its indigenous Canelos Quichua communities. Date ranges are by Professor Whitten and are approximate. The materials in this series reflect Whitten's participant observation approaches, including field research notes and secondary research notes, genealogies, diagrams, maps, and correspondence. Additional examples include completed survey forms, children's drawings from a psychological test, Spanish transcriptions of tape recordings of chigualos (wake ceremonies for young children) and arrullos (lullabies), and field notes and unprocessed digital recorded interviews regarding maleficia (hexing) (currently inaccessible as of November 2024). This series contains two subseries, Field Notes and Field Diaries, which are listed at the end of the accession.

Field Diaries (1961-2016): “Field Diaries (1961-2016)” contains documentation of Whitten’s trips to Ecuador (primarily Quito, Puyo, and Rio Chico), Colombia, and Peru (1961-2016). The diaries keep exacting details of his travels, research, expenditures, contacts, finances, and family. Also included is a letter from the indigenous community, Rayu-Urca (1981), electing Whitten as a member of their soccer club; letters from his family; and a brochure on “II Semana Cultural de Mayo 1980” (II Culture Week of May) (Field Diary, 1976). Field Diaries are arranged chronologically.

Field Notes (1959-2018): “Field Notes (1959-2018)” contains Whitten’s rich field notes from his trips to Ecuador, Columbia, and Nova Scotia, Canada. His notes focus primarily on the Black Canadian communities of Nova Scotia, Canada; Afro-Latin communities in Ecuador and Colombia; and indigenous communities of Ecuador. Whitten’s notes include photographs, a census, psychological tests, children’s drawings, interviews on children’s wakes, transcripts of song recordings, and records on culture, genealogy, folk medicine, folklore, food, politics, race stereotypes, and economics. The materials of this series span from 1959-2018.

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.