Edward Bruner facts for kids

Edward M. Bruner (born September 28, 1924 – died August 7, 2020) was a special kind of scientist called an anthropologist. He taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Anthropologists study human societies and cultures. Edward Bruner was famous for his ideas about tourism. He looked at how people experience travel and how stories are told about places. His book, Culture on Tour: Ethnographies of Travel, is very well-known. He wrote many articles and edited several books about tourism. Earlier in his career, he studied Native American communities. Later, he researched people in Indonesia. From the 1980s onwards, he focused on how people perform culture and tell stories, especially when traveling.

Quick facts for kids Edward M. Bruner
Bruner at his home 2005
Born	Edward M. Bruner (1924-09-28)September 28, 1924 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	August 7, 2020(2020-08-07) (aged 95) Urbana, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	Ohio State University (B.A. 1948) Ohio State University (M.A. 1950) University of Chicago (Ph.D. 1954)
Spouse(s)	Elaine C. Hauptman ​ (m. 1948)​
Children	Jane R. and Dan M. Bruner
Parent(s)	Milton J. Bruner and Bessie Hines
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Yale University University of Chicago Ohio State University

Early Life and Education

Edward Bruner was born in September 1924. His hometown was New York City. He went to Stuyvesant High School. This school is very tough to get into. It prepares students for college. After World War II, he attended Ohio State University. There, he met his future wife, Elaine C. Bruner.

He first planned to study engineering. But one summer, he took a class. It was about anthropology. The teacher was a famous anthropologist, Alfred L. Kroeber. This class changed Edward's mind. He decided to become an anthropologist instead. He finished his degrees at Ohio State University. Then, he went to the University of Chicago for his Ph.D.

A Career in Anthropology

Edward Bruner spent most of his career teaching. He worked in the Anthropology Department. This was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He wrote many important papers and books. His topics included how people move and settle in new places. He also studied how people show their identity. He looked at performances, traditions, and tourism.

Bruner also taught many students. These students later became important anthropologists themselves. He led two major anthropology groups. These were the Society for Humanistic Anthropology and the American Ethnological Society.

New Ideas About Tourism

Edward Bruner believed tourism was important. He thought it helped us understand culture. He showed how culture is created and performed. He also studied how stories shape what we think. For him, any tourist spot was "contested." This means different people had different ideas about it. They might have conflicting stories or interpretations.

His ideas about "touristic borderzones" were also key. These are places where different cultures meet. A book from 2019, The Ethnography of Tourism: Edward Bruner and Beyond, talks about his impact. It shows how his ideas influenced many future researchers.

Teaching at Top Universities

In 1947, Bruner took that life-changing summer course. It was with Alfred L. Kroeber at Columbia University. This course made him switch from engineering. He chose anthropology instead. After his studies at Ohio State, he went to the University of Chicago. He earned his Ph.D. there.

In 1954, a teaching job opened at Yale University. Sixty-five anthropologists applied for it. Edward Bruner got the job! He worked at Yale for six years. Then, he moved to the University of Illinois. This university was starting a new anthropology department. It had other famous anthropologists. Bruner became the head of the department. He led it from 1964 to 1968.

Personal Life

In the summer of 1947, Edward Bruner was a camp counselor. He met Elaine C. Hauptman there. She was a friend of his schoolmate. They fell in love and got married. Their wedding was on March 21, 1948. They had two children, Jane and Dan.

Elaine Bruner also became successful. She helped write a well-known reading program. It is called Reading Mastery K-1. Edward Bruner passed away on August 7, 2020. He was 95 years old.

Key Works

Edward Bruner wrote many important academic works. Here are some examples of the topics he explored:

• How cultures change over time.
• How people's identities are shaped in cities.
• The meaning of objects and symbols in culture.
• The idea of "experience" in anthropology.
• How ethnography (studying cultures) is like telling a story.
• The different ways people see historical sites.
• Tourism in places like Bali and Ghana.
• His own reflections on being an anthropologist.