Photo: A-lovchikova / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Scott Atran is one of those rare scholars who refuses the comfort of the desk. Born in New York in 1952 and trained at Columbia, this American-French anthropologist studies why people believe and why they will die for a cause, the most intractable question in human conflict. He cofounded a center at Oxford devoted precisely to that. What moves me is that he does not theorize from afar; he goes to the front lines and actually listens to fighters and zealots. A Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society directing research across continents, he uses scholarship to mend the world's wounds. I hold him in high regard.
Overview
Scott Atran (born February 6, 1952) is an American-French cultural anthropologist who is Emeritus Director of Research in Anthropology at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique in Paris, Research Professor at the University of Michigan, and cofounder of ARTIS International and of the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at Oxford University.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Scott Atran
- Name (Japanese)
- スコット・アトラン
- Reading
- すこっと・あとらん
- Born
- January 1, 1952 (age 74)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Dragon
- Origin
- New York City, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- anthropologist / political scientist / researcher / psychologist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Columbia University
Awards & achievements
- Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Political scientist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.