Shepardson, Mary Thygeson (1906–1997)
Shepardson, Mary Thygeson (1906–1997)
American cultural anthropologist. Born Mary Thygeson, May 26, 1906, in St. Paul, MN; died Mar 30, 1997, in Palo Alto, CA; dau. of Nels Marcus Thygeson and Sylvie Thompson Thygeson (1868–1975, reproductive rights activist); graduate of Stanford University, 1928; also studied at Sorbonne and London School of Economics; m. Dwight Shepardson (physician), 1942 (died 1967).
At 54, received PhD from University of California, Berkeley, with dissertation Navajo Ways in Government (published 1963); collaborated with Blodwen Hammond on The Navajo Mountain Community (1970); performed studies on Navajo law; taught at San Francisco State University; performed fieldwork with Hammond on Bonin Islands, Japan (1971); with Lakota anthropologist Bea Medicine, organized symposium on American Indian women.