British social anthropologist (born March 25, 1921, San Remo, Italy—died May 16, 2007, London, Eng.) examined structure in societies of all types and all places in a number of influential books, attracting many readers from outside her discipline as well as admiration and controversy within it. Beginning in 1949, Douglas did her fieldwork studying the matrilineal Lele people of the Kasai in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Her best-known books included Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (1966) and Natural Symbols (1970), in which she introduced the concepts of “grid” and “group” as tools for the analysis of social groups. Douglas was named a fellow of the British Academy in 1989. She was appointed CBE in 1992 and advanced to DBE shortly before her death.
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