# Bonnie McCay

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American anthropologist (born 1941)

**Bonnie McCay** (born 6 October 1941) is an [anthropologist](/source/Anthropologist) and Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor Emerita at [Rutgers University](/source/Rutgers_University).[1] Her research has focused on the anthropological and social aspects of [common property](/source/Common_property) theory, with particular emphasis on [fisheries management](/source/Fisheries_management) and human–environment relations in marine areas. Her critique of the concept of [tragedy of the commons](/source/Tragedy_of_the_commons) predates the more well-known work by [Elinor Ostrom](/source/Elinor_Ostrom).[2]

McCay studied at [Valparaiso University](/source/Valparaiso_University) from 1959 to 1960 and at the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley) from 1960 to 1962 before completing a B.A. in anthropology at [Portland State University](/source/Portland_State_University) in 1969. She then went to [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) for her graduate studies, completing her Ph.D. in 1976 under the supervision of [Andrew P. Vayda](/source/Andrew_P._Vayda), who in the meantime had moved from Columbia to Rutgers. She joined Vayda on the Rutgers faculty in 1974, first as an instructor at Cook College, and then beginning in 1975 as a tenure-track faculty member.[3]

She became a [fellow](/source/Fellow) of the [American Association for the Advancement of Science](/source/American_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Science) in 1990 and of the [Society for Applied Anthropology](/source/Society_for_Applied_Anthropology) in 1996.[3] In 2012 she was elected to the [United States National Academy of Sciences](/source/United_States_National_Academy_of_Sciences).[4]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [*Bonnie McCay, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor*](http://humanecology.rutgers.edu/faculty.asp?fid=34), [Rutgers University](/source/Rutgers_University), retrieved 2015-12-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** McCay, Bonnie J.; Acheson, James M. (1987), [*The Question of the commons: the culture and ecology of communal resources*](https://books.google.com/books?id=OHx-AAAAMAAJ), University of Arizona Press, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780816509720](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780816509720).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-cv_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-cv_3-1) [*Curriculum vitae: Bonnie J. McCay*](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080845/http://humeco.rutgers.edu/Documents_PDF/CVs/mccay_cv_2010.pdf) (PDF), January 9, 2010, archived from [the original](http://humeco.rutgers.edu/Documents_PDF/CVs/mccay_cv_2010.pdf) (PDF) on 2016-03-04, retrieved 2015-12-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Rutgers Human Ecologist Elected to National Academy of Sciences: Bonnie McCay studies economic, biological and human aspects of marine fisheries and coastal communities"](http://news.rutgers.edu/news-releases/2012/05/rutgers-human-ecolog-20120502), *Rutgers Today*, May 3, 2012.

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