Colin M. Turnbull
Colin Macmillan Turnbull (1924-1994) was a British-American anthropologist educated at Westminster School who served in the navy during World War II. In the 1950s, he spent three years living with the Bambuti pygmies in Belgian Congo before moving to America to lecture in anthropology.
A student of renowned anthropologist E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Turnbull pioneered work in ethnomusicology.
He lived openly with his African American partner during a time when interracial gay relationships were taboo.
After his partner died of AIDS, Turnbull became a Buddhist monk and died in 1994 of AIDS-related illness, having profoundly impacted anthropological literature.
