Maybury-Lewis, David (Henry Peter) (1929– )

Pakistan-born cultural anthropologist. In 1972, with Harvard University colleagues, he founded Cultural Survival, Inc, a private organization that aims to protect historical and cultural sites around the world. In 1992 his 10-part series, Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World, appeared on public television with himself serving as host; a comparative study of different cultures around the world, the series attracted most attention because of its controversial staging or dramatization of certain ‘native’ activities.

Maybury-Lewis was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan. He served in the British army (1947–48) before going to Oxford and Cambridge universities in England, gaining his PhD in 1956. Pursuing the career of a cultural anthropologist, he emigrated to the USA in 1960 to join the Harvard University faculty.