Hinshaw, Robert E. 1933–

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Hinshaw, Robert E. 1933–

(Robert Eugene Hinshaw)

PERSONAL:

Born December 2, 1933, in Wichita, KS; son of Cecil E. (a teacher) and Pauline Hinshaw; married Ardith Tjossem, August 28, 1953; children: Julia Ellen (Mrs. Mats Ryberg), Kenneth Robert, Christopher Lawrence. Education: Haverford College, B.A., 1955; University of Chicago, M.A., 1963, Ph.D., 1966. Politics: Independent. Religion: Society of Friends (Quakers).

ADDRESSES:

Office—Beloit College, Beloit, WI 53511.

CAREER:

Professor and writer. Olney Friends School (secondary boarding school), Barnesville, OH, instructor in English, Spanish, and Quakerism, 1955-58, assistant headmaster, 1956-58, headmaster, 1958-61; University of Kansas, Lawrence, assistant professor, 1966-70, associate professor of anthropology, 1970; Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH, president, 1971-75; Beloit College, Beloit, WI, associate professor of anthropology and chair of department, 1975—. Instructor at Colorado Rocky Mountain School, summer, 1962; visiting professor at University de San Carlos de Guatemala, 1968-69, Illinois State University, 1975-76. Did anthropological field work with Guatemalan Indians, 1963-65, 1968-69, 1970.

MEMBER:

American Anthropological Association (fellow), Society for Applied Anthropology, American Association for Higher Education.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Institute of Mental Health grant for restudy of Guatemalan Indian community, 1963-65; Ford Foundation and University of Kansas grant for research in Guatemala, 1968-69.

WRITINGS:

Panajachel: A Guatemalan Town in Thirty-year Perspective, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1975.

(Editor) Currents in Anthropology: Essays in Honor of Sol Tax, Mouton (The Hague, Netherlands; New York, NY), 1979.

Living with Nature's Extremes: The Life of Gilbert Fowler White, Johnson Books (Boulder, CO), 2006.

Contributor to books, including Los Pueblos del Lago de Atitlan, El Seminario de Integracion Guatemalteca (Guatemala City, Guatemala), 1968, Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume VII, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 1969, and The Social Anthropology of Latin America: Essays in Honor of Ralph Leon Beals, Center for Latin American Studies, University of California (Los Angeles, CA), 1970.

SIDELIGHTS:

Robert E. Hinshaw is the author of the 2006 book, Living with Nature's Extremes: The Life of Gilbert Fowler White. Over the years, he has held positions at several teaching institutions and has contributed to and edited books relating to the study of anthropology, specifically books dealing with Latin America.

Hinshaw's Living with Nature's Extremes "chronicles a truly inspirational tale, replete with enough life-changing twists and turns, academic challenges, and career-making decisions to present an intriguing narrative. This narrative unfolds through a collection of facts, stories, and anecdotes that capture the maturation of Gilbert White from Chicago child to international scholar," wrote Geographical Review's Graham A. Tobin. White is the primary force behind most of our knowledge about water systems today. He is a pioneer of floodplain management and natural hazards study, and he conducted significant research and work on arid land preservation, water systems in developing countries, global warming, and nuclear winter, as well as consulting on international cooperation on water resources. Hinshaw knew White for many years, and he spent several of those years interviewing him and the people who knew and worked with him. In the resulting book, Hinshaw "provides accessible explanations of White's … groundbreaking work," and he permits White to "speak most eloquently for himself," commented a SciTech Book News critic. "At times, some may find the writing a little dry and some of the repetition about people and places is somewhat irritating as the story seems to wander," noted Tobin, who later added that "the highlights of the book are undoubtedly the last two chapters…. I highly recommend this book, not only to academics catching up with an old friend but also to up-and-coming scholars. The story is encouraging and motivating."