Peter B. Hammond, an anthropology professor who helped to establish the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies program at UCLA, died of Alzheimer’s in Los Angeles on Oct. 4. He was 86.
“He was known for being personally and socially invested in the lives and scholarship of his students for his 33 years at UCLA,” said Alexandra Isfahani-Hammond, Hammond’s daughter. “He was most proud of the way he mentored students.”
Hammond won the Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award in 1996. He was also the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships.
At UCLA, Hammond began teaching in the anthropology department in 1981. He co-founded the international development studies program at UCLA, an undergraduate major at the university. He also established and directed the program in applied anthropology at UCLA.
Hammond was the chairman of the Chancellor’s Task Force on lesbian, gay and bisexual studies. His position eventually led to the establishment of UCLA’s lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender studies program in fall 1997.
At home, Isfahani-Hammond said Hammond was an excellent and dedicated father.
“He was very jocular and he was a world traveller,” Isfahani-Hammond said. “He would bring family members with him during his field work. He spent a lot of time with us.”
Hammond’s long-standing academic interest in social inequality was reflected in the courses he chose to teach. He designed an undergraduate seminar in fall 2000, called “STIGMA! The Anthropology of the Dangerous ‘Other.'”
Prior to joining the UCLA faculty, Hammond received a doctorate in anthropology from Northwestern University in 1962, and conducted his graduate research among the Mossi of Burkina Faso. He subsequently conducted research in a number of other nations, principally in Africa.
Hammond published six books between 1959 to 1984. One of his books, “An Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology,” was adopted as a key text in undergraduate courses nationwide, according to an obituary Isfahani-Hammond wrote for Los Angeles Times. At the time of his death, Hammond was writing two more books that had not yet published.
Isfahani-Hammond said she was still in mourning, but she may have her father’s manuscripts published in the future.
Tomarion Brown, the undergraduate LGBT studies program assistant, said she is thankful for Hammond’s devotion to the program, which helped establish LGBT studies at UCLA. She added that most major universities have LGBT studies programs, but not a major or minor. UCLA offers an LGBT studies minor.
Louis Flores, a fourth-year political science student with a minor in LGBT studies program, said he thinks Hammond inspired UCLA students and staff to carry on his efforts in LGBT studies program.
The LGBT studies program now has two rooms in Haines Hall, specifically for the program’s operations, Flores said. He added that said he hopes the program continues to expand in the future.
Brown said they are working on a proposal on a graduate program that would elevate the studies program to a department.
Isfahani-Hammond said the details of the memorial have yet to be determined.