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.