Professor Marshall Murphree first joined the University of Rhodesia in January 1967, and retired from the University of Zimbabwe at the end of 1996, after 30 years of service in the University. His first appointment was to the Department of Sociology. In 1970, he became the inaugural Professor of Race Relations. In 1982, the Centre for Inter-Racial Studies, which he directed, became the Centre for Applied Social Studies. As Professor and Director of this Centre, he became involved in research on peripheral areas of Zimbabwe, largely in fragile environments that are not suitable for intensive commercial agriculture. This has led to an interest in environmental issues, which he has pursued in teaching and research. His research over the years has included an anthropological interest in culture and values at the small-scale community level; he has also studied large-scale, institutional changes at the societal level, and the links between these broad changes and local communities. At the end of his long and illustrious career in the University, Professor Murphree was invited to address the University community at a farewell reception. His observations on his time with the University of Zimbabwe, and on its strengths and weaknesses, are of interest to a wider audience. This article is the text of Professor Murphree's valedictory address to the University of Zimbabwe. -- Editor's note.
Read
