Call Number:

1138

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives

Extent:

0.8 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1982-1985 (inclusive)

Creator:

Zwicker, Thomas Antony, 1957-1985

Abstract:

Thomas Zwicker received his M.A.in Anthropology from the University of Pennslyvania in 1984 having conducted his research in Ahmedabad, India. His master’s thesis was entitled “Morality and Etiquette in the Reproduction of Hierarchical Caste Relations in South Asia”. He continued his tenure at Penn as a doctorial student in Anthropology, receiving a Research Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies for a field study in India of the moral system of contemporary Jainas. The Thomas Zwicker personal papers consist of two archival boxes of material divided into six series.

Thomas Zwicker's untimely death and short life accounts for the brevity of his biography. However, he accomplished a great deal in his few years. He is the only child of Tony and Beda Zwicker, who had moved to the United States from Switzerland in 1950 and took residence in New York in 1961 when Thomas was four. He received his M.A.in Anthropology from the University of Pennslyvania in 1984 having conducted his research in Ahmedabad, India. His master’s thesis was entitled “Morality and Etiquette in the Reproduction of Hierarchical Caste Relations in South Asia”. He continued his tenure at Penn as a doctorial student in Anthropology, receiving a Research Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies for a field study in India of the moral system of contemporary Jainas. On October 29, 1985 he was killed in a motorcycle accident in Ahmedabad, India along with friend and colleque Ken Folkert, cutting short what his advisor Arjun Appadurai called a promise for becoming an important scholar in the study of Jainism.

The vast bulk of the collection is devoted to his graduate research. The papers related to his research are organized by the two degree programs; 1982 for the MA, and 1984 to 1985 for the PhD program. In addition there is material related to his accidental death, and his memorial.

Thomas Zwicker was a graduate student in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, having received his Masters in 1984, and working on a PhD at the time of his death in October of 1985. His dissertation field work was in Ahmedabad, India and the vast bulk of the collection is devoted to this period. The papers related to his research are organized by his two distinctive degree programs, 1982 for the MA, and 1984 to 1985 for the PhD program. In addition there is material related to his accidental death and his memorial service including an audio tape of the latter. The paper resources are joined by photographs and audio taped interviews completed in India.

The Thomas Zwicker personal papers consist of two archival boxes of material divided into six series.

An extensive number of files reflect Zwicker's research on selected topics and issues. These files are perhaps best described as working files that consist of notes, excerpts from interviews, interpretation of findings, etc. Course papers, can be found in the “writing files”. A dissertation proposal is part of the research series (#48).