In Memory of Professor Charles (Chuck) Lindholm
Faculty and students in the Department of Anthropology join in mourning the passing of our dear colleague, Charles (Chuck) Lindholm, who died at his home on June 30, 2023. Chuck joined the University Professors program at Boston University in 1990 and moved fully into the Department of Anthropology in 2011, after the University Professors Program closed. Prior to coming to BU he had taught at Columbia and Harvard University.
Chuck was an influential and prolific scholar. He was the author of eight books, and his works have been published in six languages. His initial field research was in the Swat Valley of Northern Pakistan. The ethnographic study that resulted, Generosity and Jealousy (1982), established him as a leading scholar of South Asian studies and a leading theorist in the anthropology of emotion. He continued to publish on the region, but at the same time his interests evolved toward work in the United States, and toward broad theoretical issues.
His work on idealization and leadership led to the publication of his well-known Charisma (1990), to an edited book on the topic in 2013, and to a number of articles on charismatic leadership and romantic love, as well as comparative studies of emotion. He also wrote textbooks on the Middle East, social identity, and concept of authenticity.
Chuck was a dedicated teacher and beloved mentor to generations of graduate students and colleagues. Students and faculty were inspired by the breadth of his interests, which included photography, painting, music, and gardening, as well as academic scholarship.
In the days immediately following Chuck’s passing, four dozen remembrances from colleagues and students were posted at the Department website. That of Keping Wu (PhD, 2007) was typical:
I thought of all the pictures he sent us after his retirement, pictures of nature and of his own paintings. They were so full of appreciation and curiosity toward life, beautiful, ugly or cruel. I thought of his writings, on charisma, on love, and on authenticity. They had the same appreciation and curiosity: a scientist, an artist and a child, all at the same time….Thank you Chuck!
Professor Fallou Ngom, one of Chuck’s colleagues in the Department wrote the following:
I am saddened by the news about Chuck’s passing. I used to refer to him as the Shaykh due to his virtues, especially his decency, which I admired. Below is my last message on him in 2021. May his great soul rest in peace.
Yaa Shaykh al-Lindholmiyyu!
Your disciples miss you for your retreat is so long.
Make us the pen you write with and the water of your ablutions.
Bestow up again upon us your magnanimous gaze that purifies our lowly nafs!
We miss you!
Fallou, one of your many Murids!
All of us owe a great debt to Chuck, both professionally and personally. In remembering him we keep his spirit alive and active in ourselves and the broader community.