Vera Dourmashkin Rubin (August 6, 1911 – February 7, 1985) was an American anthropologist and the founder and first director of the Research Institute for the Study of Man. She specialised in the anthropology of the Caribbean.
Early life and education Rubin was born in Moscow in 1911, and migrated to the United States in 1912. She was daughter of Elias Dourmashkin, editor of the Russian-language newspaper New Russian Word.https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE
Rubin studied French Literature at New York University and graduated in 1930. Rubin went on to study anthropology at Columbia University with Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and Julian Steward, who served as her graduate advisor. She received her PhD from Columbia University in 1952.
Career In 1955, Rubin founded the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM), a nonprofit organization aimed at facilitating the study of anthropology in the Caribbean as well as anthropological fieldwork. Rubin purchased the building for the headquarters at 162 East 78th Street in New York City, which also housed the Library for Caribbean Research (LCR). Rubin served as director of RISM from 1955 until her death in 1985.
In 1975, Rubin and colleague Lambros Comitas published the findings of their study on marijuana smoking in Jamaica for the Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse of the National Institute of Mental Health, Ganja in Jamaica: A Medical Anthropological Study of Chronic Marijuana Use. The 1970s marked a period of public interest and discourse surrounding marijuana use in the United States to which their study contributed by reporting that smoking marijuana had no significant adverse effects on users.
Among many other notable studies, Rubin oversaw a partnership between RISM and the Soviet Academy of Sciences to study aging and longevity, focusing on the longevity of a selection of inhabitants of Kentucky and Abkhazia in the Caucasus.
Rubin was president of the Society for Applied Anthropology and director of the American Orthopsychiatric Association. In 2016, the American Orthopsychiatric Association became the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice.
Personal life Rubin married philanthropist Samuel Rubin. They had two children, Reed, and activist Cora Weiss. They later divorced.
Honours In 1981, Rubin was awarded an honorary DHL by Brooklyn College. She was president-elect of the Caribbean Studies Association when she died. Shortly before her death in 1985, Rubin received an honorary doctorate of philosophy from the University of the West Indies.
Bibliography
References
External links
“Vera D. Rubin,” Research Institute for the Study of Man: About RISM.
Relevant archival collections
Carl L. Withers Manuscript Collection: New York University Archives. Vera D. Rubin Papers. Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) Research Collections and Archives, 1943-1985, The Reed Foundation. Sula Benet Papers: New York University Archives.
Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) Collections at New York University Archives Records of New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century and Prospects for Caribbean Basin Integration (Conference held at Hunter College, CUNY, August 28-September 1, 1984). Records of the Census of Mental Hospitals in the Caribbean. Records of the Center for Haitian Studies. Records of the Jamaica Peace Corps Training Program. Records of the Research Institute for the Study of Man's (RISM) Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Aging and Longevity Study (The Longevity Study). Records of the Research Institute for the Study of Man's (RISM) Medical and Social Anthropological Research in Bolivia. Records of the Research Institute for the Study of Man's (RISM) Study of Chronic Marihuana Users in Jamaica (The Ganja Study). Records of the Study of the Aspirations of Youth in a Developing Society (The Trinidad Study). Records of the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) Medical School Attitude Questionnaire (MSAQ). Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) Vertical Files. RISM Conference Papers: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Cannabis.