Alan Macfarlane was born in Shillong, India, in 1941 and educated at the Dragon School, Sedbergh School, Oxford and London Universities where he received two Master’s degrees and two doctorates. He is the author of over forty books, including The Origins of English Individualism (1978) and Letters to Lily: On How the World Works (2005). He has worked in England, Nepal, Japan and China as both an historian and anthropologist. He was elected to the British Academy in 1986 and is now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Professor Macfarlane received the Huxley Memorial Medal, the highest honour of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 2012.

• Preface Note on Transcription – Radha Béteille Introduction – Alan Macfarlane Empires and the Role of Anthropology – Alan Macfarlane PART I Christopher Bayly – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane PART II Richard Rathbone – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane The Troubled Past of Africa’s History – Richard Rathbone PART III Richard Drayton – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane

Alan Macfarlane was born in Shillong, India, in 1941 and educated at the Dragon School, Sedbergh School, Oxford and London Universities where he received two Master’s degrees and two doctorates. He is the author of over forty books, including The Origins of English Individualism (1978) and Letters to Lily: On How the World Works (2005). He has worked in England, Nepal, Japan and China as both an historian and anthropologist. He was elected to the British Academy in 1986 and is now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Professor Macfarlane received the Huxley Memorial Medal, the highest honour of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 2012.

• Preface Note on Transcription – Radha Béteille Introduction – Alan Macfarlane Empires and the Role of Anthropology – Alan Macfarlane PART I Christopher Bayly – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane PART II Richard Rathbone – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane The Troubled Past of Africa’s History – Richard Rathbone PART III Richard Drayton – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane

Alan Macfarlane was born in Shillong, India, in 1941 and educated at the Dragon School, Sedbergh School, Oxford and London Universities where he received two Master’s degrees and two doctorates. He is the author of over forty books, including The Origins of English Individualism (1978) and Letters to Lily: On How the World Works (2005). He has worked in England, Nepal, Japan and China as both an historian and anthropologist. He was elected to the British Academy in 1986 and is now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Professor Macfarlane received the Huxley Memorial Medal, the highest honour of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 2012.

• Preface Note on Transcription – Radha Béteille Introduction – Alan Macfarlane Empires and the Role of Anthropology – Alan Macfarlane PART I Christopher Bayly – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane PART II Richard Rathbone – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane The Troubled Past of Africa’s History – Richard Rathbone PART III Richard Drayton – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane