Luis Stowell[1] Kemnitzer (November 13, 1928 in Pasadena, California[2]– February 17, 2006) was an American anthropologist known for his social and political activism.
From 1967 to 1994,[3] Kemnitzer was a professor at San Francisco State University, where in 1969 he taught that institution's first course in American Indian Studies.[4][5] In this role, Kemnitzer visited Alcatraz Island during its occupation—which had been partially planned in his classroom,[6] and among whose participants were some of his students[2] (including Richard Oakes)[6] — to provide logistical advice on how to set up educational programs for Native American children on the island.[7]
Kemnitzer began his academic career in the 1940s, studying public health at the University of California, Berkeley, but withdrew to become a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad.[2] His experiences in the labor force led him to join the Communist Party USA.[2] In the 1960s, he earned his doctorate in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania,[4] after writing a dissertation based on his experiences living among the Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.[2] He subsequently became director of the Lakota Language and Culture Center.[8] His published research included studies of syncretism among the Lakota;[9] railroad workers' time perception;[10] and needle exchange programmes.[11]
As an activist, Kemnitzer helped establish the first needle exchange programme in San Francisco's Tenderloin district;[4] and attempted to distribute condomstoBohemian Grove attendees.[12] In 2005, he and his partner Moher Downing posed naked for the 2006 "Hotties of Harm Reduction" calendar; the 2007 calendar was dedicated to his memory.[13]
In 1997, Kemnitzer, who had for many years been an avid record collector,[14] helped create the liner notes for the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings reissue of Anthology of American Folk Music[15] (originally compiled by Harry Everett Smith, with whom Kemnitzer had been friends).[16] He subsequently shared in the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes.[2]