He's a New York Jew who speaks fluent Irish and is an expert in the anthropology of Irish Catholicism. Now, he's making international connections for NUI Maynooth, writes GRÁINNE FALLER
PROFESSOR Lawrence Taylor was seen as an ideal choice to represent NUI Maynooth in its effort to expand and cement its partnerships and dealings with international universities.
Taylor had been head of the department of anthropology in NUI Maynooth for almost 10 years when he was appointed as Dean of International Education last year. To appoint a senior academic to the international office was quite an unusual move. “Often, the role is seen as more of an administrative one,” said one colleague. “Many universities will have a director of international education, but making the position an academic one in Maynooth was a sign of just how important the international relations are to the university.”
A well-known anthropologist and writer, Taylor quickly made his mark in the office and, after a year as dean, was promoted to vice president at the beginning of this academic year. Universities are now working on a global stage. Smaller universities in particular can punch well above their weight in certain areas thanks to collaborations and partnerships with international counterparts. “That was a signal to the universities and the people he goes to see that he truly can speak on behalf of the university,” commented one source.
In many ways, the job could have been made for Taylor. As an anthropologist, he was accustomed to dealing with people and different cultures. He had a large amount of international experience under his belt and importantly, according to those who know him, Taylor makes friends easily and recognises the importance of personal friendships and connections in the larger business of university collaboration.
“He’s not your typical academic,” said one insider. “Even though he’s a die-hard anthropologist, he seems happy to define himself as a writer.” Indeed, Taylor has been quite prolific, having written a range of well received books on various research topics from Irish Catholicism to the tunnel children of the US-Mexico border.
His work is noted for its accessibility, which in academia can be seen as a good or a bad thing. “There’s a saying that anthropology is life hibernating in a difficult language. Larry manages to side step that very well,” said one source. “Some might say that he accepts the title of travel writer a little too readily. I think he enjoys seeing his books on the shelves alongside other writers.”
While the language is simple and straightforward, the ideas are not, say academic insiders. “He manages to combine rigorous scholarship with an easy discursive style, even in his academic articles,” one source said.
Taylor didn’t come from an academic family. He was born in New York in 1949. The family moved around and Taylor was educated a number of schools, both public and private, including George W Bush’s alma mater, Philips Academy, Andover.
He attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook, which is where he first realised that anthropology might be for him.
Unlike many academics who come to Ireland, Taylor has no familial connection whatsoever with the place.
His first exposure to the country came via literature, and later when he saw the film, Man of Aran. "He was a complete outsider, which is enormously helpful as an anthropologist," said an acquaintance.
Having developed an interest in fishing communities during his PhD research, he hitchhiked to Teelin in southwest Donegal one summer. This brief visit to such an isolated community sparked Taylor’s interest and marked the beginning of what was to become a 20-year study of the area and its people.
Learning the Irish language was just one element that allowed him to get under the skin of the community, but it was an important one. He developed a fascination in particular with the role of the Catholic Church and the priest in the community and gradually, that took over as his main area of research.
Throughout those years, Taylor published articles on all sorts of areas, but Donegal remained to the fore. In 1995, he secured a deal with Lilliput Press to publish his breakthrough work, Occasions of Faith – An Anthropology of Irish Catholics.
The book was shortlisted for the Turner prize for ethnographic writing and has become one of the seminal works on the topic. “That was simply a brilliant book,” said one peer.
While conducting his research in Ireland, Taylor had been working for years in Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, recognised as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the US.
After the publication of Occasions of Faith, he was approached by the then president of the new NUI Maynooth, Séamus Smyth. By then it was 1997 and Smyth enticed Taylor to take up the newly created position of professor of anthropology in the university.
Overall, Taylor was well liked as a department head and, despite having – by his own admission – avoided the administrative end of things at Lafayette, he proved to be reasonably adept at managing the inevitable bureaucracy that came with being in that position. The anthropology department expanded greatly under his leadership.
By the time he reached Maynooth, Taylor’s research focus had shifted from Ireland to the US-Mexico border, an area in which he is still working today.
His award-winning books on the border area have been collaborations with his photographer wife Maeve Hickey.
“The two of them travelled around that desert on and off for years in their campervan,” said one acquaintance. “He tells good stories about those adventures.”
Taylor's best academic work, according to insiders, is yet to come. The book he is working on at the moment is called Moral Geographies at the Edge of America.
It’s the result of many years of going out into the desert that the migrants walk through from Mexico to the US and talking with every kind of person – pro-migrant groups, anti-migrant groups, Indians who are on a pilgrimage to a Catholic shrine, wilderness fanatics – found in that one desert.
“There’s a lot of discourse in America about that area,” said a source. “I think this book is going to be very important.” A work of fiction about the area is also in the offing.
In his current role, Taylor’s duties range from attracting students to Maynooth and encouraging Irish students to go abroad, to establishing potentially lucrative teaching and research links with universities in an effort to broaden Maynooth’s international horizons.
Strong connections are already established in the US and China. All sorts of interesting collaborations are coming on stream, including possible relationships with universities as far afield as Vietnam and even Bethlehem.
“NUI Maynooth is too small not to be thinking about international connections and collaborations. The same is true for Ireland. There is a clear notion that this country prospers insofar as it can connect,” Taylor himself has said.
So far, the authorities at NUI Maynooth appear delighted with the progress Taylor has made.
“There has been tremendous growth in the numbers of international students and partnerships,” said one source. “It’s clear the strategy is working.”
The works of Prof Larry Taylor
1983
Dutchmen on the Bay: The Ethnohistory of a Contractual CommunityPhiladelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Finalist, Immigration History Book Award
1995
Occasions of Faith: An Anthropology of Irish Catholics
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Dublin, Ireland: Lilliput Press. Finalist, Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing
1997
The Road to Mexico
With photographs by Maeve Hickey. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press. Southwest Book of the Year
2001
Tunnel Kids
With photographs by Maeve Hickey. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. BLA Southwest Book of the Year, New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
2002
Ambos Nogales: Intimate Portraits of the US/Mexico Border
With photographs by Maeve Hickey. Santa Fe: School for American Research Press
