The Evans-Pritchard Lectures are an annual lecture series established in 1998 at All Souls College in memory of Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard who was Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford and Fellow of All Souls (1946 to 1970), and instrumental in founding the discipline of social anthropology.

The Lectureship is offered, thanks to a generous benefaction, to scholars of promise, perhaps with some significant publications already, or to mature scholars who have embarked on new lines of research. The lectures should be based on fieldwork or other primary indigenous materials and must offer an empirical analysis of social relations. They should have a reasonable (though not necessarily exclusive) emphasis on the geographic areas which Evans-Pritchard was chiefly concerned with: Africa, the Middle East, or the Mediterranean, and be within the disciplines of Social Anthropology, Archaeology and History. The aim is to develop the core of a book.

Evans-Pritchard lectures typically take place in Trinity Term at All Souls College. Previous lecturers can be found here.

The 2026 Evans-Pritchard Lecture series will be delivered by Dr Marco Santini (The University of Edinburgh). 

Recruitment of the 2026-27 Evans-Pritchard lecturer is by application and now open with a closing date of 13 March 2026, 12 noon (UK time). Please review the Further Particulars for more information.