A Stranger Abroad by Schuyler Jones

About the book

Professor Emeritus Schuyler Jones is a world renowned anthropologist and collector of artifacts for museums globally. He is an explorer and adventurer, expedition leader, map-maker, photographer, film-maker and writer whose research and expertise has singled him out not only as an expert on Nuristan (N.E. Afghanistan) but as one of the top Museologists in his field. Former Head of Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University, England and Director of the world famous ethnographic museum, The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, Schuyler Jones remains an adviser to several museums, friends to Royalty, leading politicians and world famous explorers and academics. Dr. Jones refers to the international belief that he is the 'original' upon whom the 'Indiana Jones' films are based 'as just a rumor', but his friends and colleagues know better.

Dr. Jones has lived in Africa, Central Asia, Europe and the Far East and now resides in his home country, America. He led many expeditions into such places as Greenland, Mongolia, Tibet and the Belgian Congo (to name a few). Despite being retired Dr. Jones is still writing, traveling, is involved in archaeological digs and continues lecturing. His children followed in his footsteps as archaeologists, and live in Africa, Scandinavia and America and his wife is an ethnomedical anthropologist (studying indigenous forms of healing) and Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

If you read his recent autobiography, 'A Stranger Abroad', you will gain insights into what a man like Schuyler Jones thinks and the adventures and scrapes that he got himself into and out of. This book follows the tradition of all great explorers and adventurers in that it is self-effacing, honest and shows the author's courage and tenacity when faced with adversity and life's twists and unexpected turns. After each chapter the reader will feel that they entered a totally different world where shrunken heads, skinning crocs and trekking across the Sahara is all in a days work for the extraordinary is almost made ordinary by a person who lived a fascinating life that touched times that that may be lost to us forever. The book does not follow Dr. Jones' life chronologically because he does not remember it like that. Each chapter is a vignette a glimpse into history and ways of life that have long gone. The relevance for a modern reader is that real American heroes are rare most particularly the ones who just get on with experiencing everything that life gives them. What is fascinating as you read further into 'A Stranger Abroad', is that you begin to realize that Schuyler Jones does not even know that his life has been extraordinary because he was so busy living it. That innocent quality allows the reader to be transported to the places and experiences of this incredible life so that they are side by side with the author. In other words this is a book that you cannot put down.

Dr. Schuyler Jones is an extraordinary man who speaks many languages from Persian to Swahili, French and Danish. He has lived with pygmies, hunted tigers with the King of Nepal and collected items all over the world for display in museums. His autobiography leaves you wanting to read more and with the feeling that 'if only you had had the courage' ... you might have experienced life in the same way as the famous Dr. Jones.

Further information on his career is provided in Who's Who.

About the author

Summary
Born in Sedgwick County, Kansas, February 7th, 1930. Studied Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Following fieldwork in Afghanistan (1960-68) returned to Oxford to write doctoral thesis. Appointed curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum and University Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology at Oxford University in 1970. Appointed Director of the Museum and Head of Department in 1985. Continued teaching and research at Oxford until retirement in 1997. From 1997 to 1999 served as Specialist Assessor for the Higher Education Funding Council in London. Awarded CBE by the Queen in 1998. After 50 years abroad, moved back to Kansas in 1999.

Biographical Sketch
Moved to Paris in 1950. Joined Paris bureau of Acme Newspictures and United Press as staff photographer. Among other things covered the Sixth General Assembly of the United Nations in Paris, 1951. Joined overland expedition to Africa. Crossed the Sahara to West Africa. Lived with Pygmies in the Belgian Congo for seven months. Traveled through East Africa, finally completing the overland journey from Paris to Capetown in 1953. Hunted crocodiles on the Zambezi. Served with the Kenya Police during the Mau Mau Emergency. Returned to Paris to write a book about African adventures. Crossed the Sahara a second time in 1954. Spent the winter of '54-55 in Timbuktu. Returned overland to Paris. Completed Under the African Sun which was first published in French in Paris. English edition appeared in London the following year. From 1956-58 lived on the island of Rhodes in the Eastern Mediterranean, translating books from French and German into English.

In 1958 drove across the Middle East and South Asia through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Sent by the National Geographic Magazine to Nepal to take pictures. Spent winter of '58-59 in Nepal. Hunted tigers with the King and Crown Prince. Returned to Afghanistan in 1959. Spent two years there. Moved to Scotland. Studied Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Returned to Afghanistan for anthropological field studies in Nuristan. Spent a total of six years in Afghanistan. Returned to Oxford University in 1968 to write doctoral thesis. Awarded doctorate (D.Phil.) from Oxford in 1970. Appointed curator and university lecturer in Cultural Anthropology at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Subsequently made numerous expeditions from Oxford to East Africa, Greenland, China, Tibet, Pakistan, Russia, and Australia making field collections for the Pitt Rivers Museum, taking photographs, and collecting anthropological data.

Further information about the author and his career may be found in Who's Who.

Publications

(1) Books:

Under the African Sun

Men of Influence in Nuristan: A Study of Social Control & Dispute Settlement in Waigal Valley, Afghanistan

Nuristan (with Lennart Edelberg)

Tibetan Nomads: Environment, Pastoral Economy, and Material Culture

(2) Monographs:

An Annotated Bibliography of Nuristan (Kafiristan) & The Kalash Kafirs of Chitral, Parts I & II.

The Political Organization of the Kam Kafirs: Preliminary Analysis

Afghanistan, vol. 135, World Bibliographical Analysis

(3) Articles in learned journals:

Twenty research-based articles, mostly relating to field research in Afghanistan, published in international journals.

(4) Edited volume:

Hunting & Trading on the Great Plains, 1859 - 1865 by James R. Mead

Awaiting Publication

A Stranger Abroad. A biography (2005)

Reprinting of Hunting & Trading on the Great Plains (as above) in 2006.