Landes, Ruth (1908–1991)

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Landes, Ruth (1908–1991)

American social and cultural anthropologist. Name variations: Ruth Schlossberg Landes. Born Ruth Schlossberg in 1908 in New York, NY; dau. of Joseph Schlossberg (NY labor leader) and Anna Grossman Schlossberg; New York University, BS, 1927; Columbia University, PhD, 1935.

Known largely for work on Ojibwa, Potawatomi, and Sioux Indians, studied with Ruth Benedict and Franz Boas at Columbia; focused on social organization and religious life of Native North Americans; worked in Brazil on African-Brazilian cults that were led by women and homosexuals (1938–39); received permanent position at McMaster University, Ontario (1965). Works include Ojibwa Sociology (1937), The Ojibwa Woman (1938) and The City of Women (1947).