Koch, Klaus-Friedrich
Biography
Klaus-Friedrich Koch was born November 12, 1937, in Lubben, Germany. From 1958 to 1959 he studied ethnology, psychology, and philosophy at Bonn University, during 1959-1960 he pursued coursework in ethnology, psychology, and Arabic at Tubingen University. Koch took a B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1961. Berkeley awarded him a doctorate in anthropology in 1967.
Koch held numerous academic appointments including positions at Harvard University, Bielefeld University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1976 Northwestern University appointed him an associate professor of anthropology. Koch held this position until his death in 1979.
Koch's research interests centered on law, warfare, conflict and its resolution, and politics. His fieldwork took him to New Guinea and the Fiji Islands, North and West Africa, and the Middle East. Koch authored numerous books, articles, and essays based upon his fieldwork. His major publications include: War and Peace in Jalemo: the Management of Conflict in Highland New Guinea (1974), and a book he edited, Logs in the Current of the Sea: Neli Lifuka's Story of Kioa and the Vaitupu Colonists (1978). He co-edited Law and Social Change: Problems and Challenges in Contemporary Egypt (1979).
Koch was married to Soraya Altorki. He died in Cairo, Egypt on November 14, 1979.