Murray Last

Professor
Murray Last
Professor Murray Last
Born	Denis Murray Last; 1937 (88–89)
Other names	D. M. Last
Occupations	Professor, historian, anthropologist
Academic background
Education	University of Cambridge (BA); Yale University (MA); University of Ibadan (PhD);
Thesis	A Study of Sokoto in the 19th Century, with Special Reference to the Waziris (1964)
Doctoral advisor	Abdullahi Smith
Academic work
Discipline	History, African studies, medical anthropology
Institutions	Ahmadu Bello University; Bayero University Kano; International African Institute; University College London;
Main interests	History of northern Nigeria, Islamic history of West Africa, Hausa medicine
Notable works	The Sokoto Caliphate (1967); The Importance of Knowing about Not Knowing (1981)

Denis Murray Last (born 1937) is a British historian and medical anthropologist, known for his pioneering research on northern Nigeria and the anthropology of medicine. He and Adiele Afigbo were the first two individuals to be awarded a PhD by a Nigerian university, completing his doctorate at University College Ibadan with research on the Sokoto Caliphate. His thesis was later published as The Sokoto Caliphate (1967), an influential work that reshaped understanding of 19th-century Islamic west Africa through its extensive use of primary sources, mostly written in Classical Arabic. Last is also recognised for his longterm ethnographic research on Hausa and Maguzawa medical cultures, introducing the concepts of "medical cultures" and "not knowing" in medical anthropology and ethnography. He served as sole editor of the Africa journal for 15 years (1986–2001) and is currently professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology, University College London.