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Ann Dunham

Not to be confused with the equestrian Anne Dunham.

Ann Dunham
Dunham in 1960
Born
Stanley Ann Dunham

(1942-11-29)November 29, 1942
Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
DiedNovember 7, 1995(1995-11-07) (aged 52)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Education
Spouses
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(m. 1961; div. 1964)​
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(m. 1965; div. 1980)​
Children
Parents
RelativesCharles T. Payne (uncle)
HonoursMain Star of Service of Indonesia

Stanley Ann Dunham (November 29, 1942 – November 7, 1995) was an American anthropologist who specialized in the economic anthropology and rural development of Indonesia.[1] She was the mother of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Dunham studied at the East–West Center and at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Honolulu, where she attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology (1967),[2] and later received Master of Arts (1974) and PhD (1992) degrees, also in anthropology.[3] She also attended the University of Washington in Seattle from 1961 to 1962. Interested in craftsmanship, weaving, and the role of women in cottage industries, Dunham's research focused on women's work on the island of Java and blacksmithing in Indonesia. To address the problem of poverty in rural villages, she created microcredit programs while working as a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development. Dunham was also employed by the Ford Foundation in Jakarta and she consulted with the Asian Development Bank in Gujranwala, Pakistan. Towards the latter part of her life, she worked with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, where she helped apply her research to the largest microfinance program in the world.[3]

After her son was elected president, interest renewed in Dunham's work: the University of Hawaiʻi held a symposium about her research; an exhibition of Dunham's Indonesian batik textile collection toured the United States; and in December 2009, Duke University Press published Surviving against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia, a book based on Dunham's original 1992 dissertation. Janny Scott, an author and former New York Times reporter, published a biography of her titled A Singular Woman in 2011. Posthumous interest has also led to the creation of the Ann Dunham Soetoro Endowment in the Anthropology Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, as well as the Ann Dunham Soetoro Graduate Fellowships, intended to fund students associated with the East–West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.[4]

In an interview, Barack Obama referred to his mother as "the dominant figure in my formative years ... The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics."[5]

  1. ^ "S. Ann Dunham – Surviving against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia". Dukeupress.edu. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  2. ^ The University of Hawaii at Manoa Department of Anthropology says Ann Dunham received a B.A. in anthropology in August 1967 and contemporaneous correspondence in 1966 and 1967 between S. Ann Soetoro and the INS makes repeated references to her obtaining a BA in anthropology in 1967.
  3. ^ a b Dewey, Alice; White, Geoffrey (November 2008). "Ann Dunham: a personal reflection". Anthropology News. 49 (8): 20. doi:10.1111/an.2008.49.8.20. Archived from the original on June 10, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2009. reprinted by:
  4. ^ "The Ann Dunham Soetoro Endowed Fund". Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  5. ^ Jones, Tim (March 27, 2007). "Barack Obama: mother not just a girl from Kansas; Stanley Ann Dunham shaped a future senator". Chicago Tribune. p. 1 (Tempo). Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
    "Video: Reflections on Obama's mother (02:34)". Chicago Tribune. March 27, 2007. Archived from the original on March 29, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
    "Video: Jim Wichterman reflects on his former student (02:03)". Chicago Tribune. March 27, 2007. Archived from the original on March 29, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
    "Video: She changed his diapers (01:02)". Chicago Tribune. March 27, 2007. Archived from the original on March 30, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2009.