Jane Richardson Hanks entered the field of anthropology through a few "fortuitous events" (Ebihara, 1988, p. 140). Alfred Kroeber quickly enrolled her in three undergraduate ethnology courses at University of California at Berkeley shortly after they met and discussed Mexican history and Greek culture. She was admitted to the graduate study program in anthropology in 1933 after completing these courses and two language examinations. Kroeber was an important mentor to Hanks during this time. She was his research assistant on an article about "culture change as exemplified in women's dress styles". For her contributions, he "graciously listed" her as senior author (Ebihara, 1988, p. 141). Kroeber also helped to arrange field work for her with Kiowa Indians, and then arranged for a traveling fellowship with Berkeley so she could study at Columbia with Ruth Benedict. She completed her dissertation in 1938 on Kiowa law.

Jane met her husband, Lucien M. Hanks, Jr. during a summer's fieldwork in Mexico. They have collaborated a great deal throughout their careers, for Lucien studied social psychology in graduate school and became more focused on anthropology, possibly a bit due to Hanks's influence. "Along with her husband Lucien, Jane Hanks created a rich and diverse body of ethnographic literature, beginning with studies of central Thai populations and later focusing on highland ethnic minority groups in Thailand" (Anthropological bridges, 2002). Her 1951 article "Reflections on the Ontology of Rice" is considered an "unrivaled contribution" to anthropology due to its "sharp insights on Thailand, gender roles, and ethnography". It came from two years of ethnography on rural Thai villagers. Jane and Lucien also lived in Thailand on and off between 1963 and 1979, this time working with upland tribal peoples. This ethnography was pioneering, for she was one of the first people to research upland tribal people with such a wide scope (Ebihara, 1988). She was also one of the first people to study Akha women (Anthropological Bridges, 2002).

Although Lucien was a professor of psychology and anthropology at Bennington College for most of his career, Hanks did not really work as a professor until her children were grown (Ebihara, 1988). Her career seems to have two "major peaks of professional activity: the first as a graduate student and newlywed Ph.D., then a renaissance of research and writing in later life as her children became grown, with a diversified mix of personal and professional activities between the two" (Ebihara, 1988, p. 144).

Hanks states she "never felt disadvantaged" as a woman doing fieldwork (Hanks in Ebihara, 1988, pp. 144-5). She believed that "'women have to adjust more artfully than men when entering a new culture'" because they have to "'balance'" "their professional activities, behavior congruent with native expectations of female roles in order not to 'lose face' or rapport, and our own cultural norms about gender behavior and interaction" (Ebihara, 1988, p. 145).

Hanks's contributions to anthropology are not through theory, rather, she subscribes to the Boasian tenet of accumulating information first, and then thinking of theory. Her work has stimulated the work of others studying Thai culture, and has helped form the foundation of knowledge on Thai villagers and tribal peoples

References

• Arizona State University Program for Southeast Asian Studies (PSEAS). (2002). "Anthropological bridges: breaking ground in Southeast Asia". In Storied Cloth: The Jane R. Hanks Collection of Southeast Asian Textiles. Available: http://www.asu.edu/clas/asian/psea/pseas_main_pages/pseas_resources/jane_hanks_collection/hanks.html#About%20Jane%20Richardson%20Hanks

• Arizona State University Program for Southeast Asian Studies (PSEAS). (2002). "Selected references on Jane Richardson Hanks" and "Publications by Jane Richardson Hanks". Available: http://www.asu.edu/clas/asian/hanksbiblio.html

• Ebihara, M. (1988). "Jane Richardson Hanks (1908 - )." In Gacs, U., Khan, A., McIntyre, J., and Weinberg, R. (Eds.), Women anthropologists: A biographical dictionary (pp.140-147). New York: Greenwood Press.

• Basile, J. (1998). "Falling into anthropology: life stories of Jane Richardson Hanks." 1998 Chris Lerman Prize for Essays on Extraordinary Women, Anthropology Department, Brandeis University.

• Kammerer, C. A. (1992). "Jane Richardson Hanks' contribution to Akha ethnography." Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 7, no. 1, 41-44.

• Kammerer, C. A., and Tannenbaum, N. (1992). "Jane Richardson Hanks." Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 7, no. 1, 6- 10. Kirsch, A. T. (1992) "Homage to Jane and Lucien Hanks." Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 7, no. 1, 12-17.

• Muecke, M. A. (1992). "Jane Richardson Hanks' Work on Thai Gender." Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 7, no. 1, 21-26. Tannenbaum, N. (1992). "Hanks and Hanks in the Hills." Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 7, no. 1, 37-40.

• 1960 "Reflections on the ontology of rice." In Diamond, S. (Ed.) Culture in History: Essays in Honor of Paul Radin, 298-301. New York: Columbia University Press. Reprinted in Diamond, S. (Ed.), Primitive Views of the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964.

• 1963 With Lucien Hanks. "Thailand: equality between the sexes." In Ward, B. (Ed.), Women in the New Asia: The changing social roles of men and women in South and Southeast Asia, 423-451. Paris: UNESCO.

• 1964 With Lucien Hanks. "Siamese Tai." In Lebar, F. M. and others (Ed.), Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia, 197-205. New Haven, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files Press.

• 1974 "Recitation of patrilineages among the Akha." In Smith, R.J. (Ed.), Social Organization and the Applications of Anthropology: Essays in Honor of Lauriston Sharp, 114-127. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

• 1981 "Hill and valley peoples of Thailand's province of Chiangrai: a changing relationship." In Third International Symposium on Asian Studies. Vol. 3, 541-549. Hong Kong: Asian Research Service.

• 1987 With Lucien Hanks. "Settling the Lisu in Thailand." In Southeast Asian Tribal Groups and Ethnic Minorities, report no. 22, 135-138. Cambridge, Mass.: Cultural Survival, Inc.

• 1988 "The power of Akha women." In Eberhardt, N. (Ed.), Gender, Power, and the Construction of the Moral Order: Studies from the Thai Periphery, 13-31. Center for Southeast Asian Studies Monograph, no. 4. Madison, Wis.: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin.

• 1990 "The Confucian heritage among the tribes." In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Thai Studies. Vol. 1, 339-347. Kunming, China: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.