author
James F. Downs
1923–1999
An anthropologist and prolific writer, he explored Native American life with a close eye for everyday culture, especially among the Washo and the Navajo. His work also ranged far beyond field studies, touching on cultural anthropology, Japan, Tibet, and cross-cultural relations.
1 Audiobook
Washo Religion
by James F. Downs
About the author
James F. Downs was an American anthropologist, professor, naval officer, and author whose papers are held by the University of Nevada, Reno. Archival records describe a wide body of work that included scholarly and popular writing, novels, autobiographical stories, and research on topics stretching from Native American communities to Japanese-American relations and Tibet.
He is best remembered for studies such as The Two Worlds of the Washo and The Navajo, along with books on cultural and physical anthropology. Other source material about his career notes that he conducted field research among the Washo of California and Nevada and the Navajo of Arizona, and that he taught at several universities, including Washington, Rochester, Wyoming, and Arizona.
Some records identify him as James Frances Downs and give his life dates as 1923–1999. A few less consistent sources list different birth details, so it is safest to say that he was an influential 20th-century anthropologist whose writing combined academic research with a broader interest in how people live across cultures.