William M O'Barr, Professor
| Office Location: | 202 Friedl Building |
| Office Phone: | (919) 684-8863 |
| Email Address: | 
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| Web Page: |
Office Hours:
By appointment only.
Education:
- Ph.D. Northwestern University 1970
- M.A. Northwestern University 1996
- Other Emory University 1964
- Specialties:
- Mass Culture
- North America
- Africa
Research Interests:
William M. O'Barr, Ph.D. Northwestern 1969, is currently writing books about advertising and masculinity and about the history of legal anthropology. His extensive publications focus primarily on legal anthropology and include such concerns as law and politics in rural Africa, communication in trial courtrooms in America, and access to justice. His research sites have included rural villages in East Africa, trial courtrooms in the United States and Canada, and many of the organizations that are collectively referred to as "Madison Avenue." His publications include Tradition and Identity in Changing Africa (1973); Linguistics Evidence (1982); Language and Power (1984); Rules versus Relationships: The Ethnography of Legal Discourse (with John M. Conley; 1990); Fortune and Folly: The Wealth and Power of Institutional Investing (also with Conley; 1992), and Culture and the Ad: Exploring Otherness in the World of Advertising (1994); and Just Words: Language, Law and Power (The University of Chicago Press, 1998).
- Recent Publications
(More Publications)
- W.M. O'Barr. "The Practice of Planning: Interview of Stephen King." Advertising & Society Review vol. 4 no. 3 ( Preprint, 2004).
- W.M. O'Barr. "Back to the Trobriands: The Enduring Influence of Malinowski's Crime and Custom in Savage Society." Law & Social Inquiry vol. 27 no. 4 ( 2004): 847-874.
- W.M. O'Barr. "Culture and Causality: Non-Western Systems of Explanation." Law and Contemporary Problems vol. 64 no. 4 ( 2004): 317-323.
- W.M. O'Barr. "The Practice of Planning: Interview of Stephen King.." Advertising & Society Review vol. 4 no. 3 ( 2004).
- W.M. O'Barr. "When Cultures Collide: Social Security and the Market." Journal of Psychology and Financial Management ( 2004).