Interview: Chris Knight speaks to Ready Steady Book
Chris Knight is a professor of anthropology at the University of East London, and the author of the highly acclaimed and controversial book, Blood Relations: Menstruation and The Origins of Culture, which outlines a new theory of human origins. Chris gives regular talks at the Radical Anthropology Group in London, and will also be speaking at the Communist University in London in August. Chris was talking to regular RSB contributor Stuart Watkins and Dave Flynn.
ReadySteadyBook: Chris, you started your academic career studying Russian literature. So why anthropology? What made you switch, and what, if anything, does your background in literature bring to both your anthropology and your writing style?
Chris Knight: At school, in the sixth form, I was studying maths, physics and chemistry. I loved science but wanted to break out a bit at university. Since my A-levels were in the natural sciences, I was told that I wasn't qualified to apply for an arts degree. I protested and eventually was advised that I could study Russian if I went to Sussex University. This was in 1961. These were the post-Sputnik years, and Russian was widely believed to be something western scientists would have to master in order to keep abreast. I loved Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, but felt completely baffled by the intricacies of Russian grammar. It wasn't like science - it made no sense. The plan was to spend my third year living and studying in Moscow, but in 1964 the so-called 'thaw' came to an abrupt end and I had to go to Paris instead, living with a couple of ageing Russian emigres. They spoke a kind of French except in their intimate moments, when they reverted to Russian. Since I wasn't supposed to be learning French, I didn't even acquire that language properly. In the end, I nearly failed my degree. But I was allowed to do an M.Phil. despite this.
By 1966, I had begun to discover anthropology. But the only academic willing to support my postgraduate application was Robin Milner-Gulland, my extremely conscientious and thoughtful former Russian tutor. Being supervised by Robin meant that I couldn't switch to anthropology - I would have to continue with my Russian. In the end, I wrote a reasonably intelligent thesis on the futurist poet Velimir Khlebnikov, whose best-known work is his Incantation by Laughter. Khlebnikov dreamed of forging a language of magic spells capable of embracing humanity. Back in 1912, he predicted that an empire would fall in 1917. A dreamy mathematician, he thought he had captured the wave-length of history. I am no poet, but Khlebnikov continues to inspire me.