[1] Edith Turner contributed to the study of humanistic anthropology and was a dedicated social activist her entire life.
She earned her bachelor's degree in 1938 from Alde House Domestic Science College.
Her master's degree was titled "The Mysterious Duke: Shakespeare in the Light of Liminality."
[4][5] To this day, she has some of the most widely spanning ethnographic fieldwork across the globe including, "the Ndembu of Zambia (1951–1954), the Bagisu of Uganda (1966), pilgrimage sites in Mexico (1969, 1970), and pilgrimages in Ireland (1971, 1972), she also studied shrines in India and Sri Lanka (1979), Brazilian carnival and Afro-Brazilian cults (1979), Israeli rituals (1980), Japanese ritual and theater (1981), Yaqui ritual (1981, 1986), Israel pilgrimages (1983), African American healing churches (1985), Civil War reenactments (1986–87), Korean shamanism (1987), Inupiat festivals (1987–1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, ˜ 1993), suburban American rituals, ritual of the Saami of Kola Peninsula in Russia (1993), commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the Great Famine of Ireland (1995), and Christian groups in the United States (1996)".
The Edie Turner Humanistic Anthropology Award acknowledges students at the University of Virginia whose teaching, activism, and writing recognize the richness of human experience.