Schapera was born in Garies,
Namaqualand, South Africa where his father owned a general store. His parents were of Ashkenazi Jewish origin and had immigrated to South Africa during the Russian Revolution. In his youth he attended school, and later university, in
Cape Town, South Africa. During his early university career he was enrolled in law, but would later switch to anthropology. He was a student of
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, who is considered a founder of structural-functionalism theory in anthropology. After finishing his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in anthropology, Schapera completed his doctorate at the London School of Economics and Politics (LSE) where he would be influenced by
Bronislaw Malinowski. His thesis was titled The tribal system in South Africa: a study of the Bushmen and the Hottentots. Thereafter he taught briefly at the
University of Witwatersrand before returning to Cape Town. There he worked as a professor of social anthropology before joining the Department of Anthropology at LSE. His continued to work there until he retired in 1969. Schapera's students would include future important figures of anthropology, such as
Eileen Krige,
Hilda Kuper,
Max Gluckman,
John Comaroff,
Johan Frederik Holleman and
Jean Comaroff. After his death, a research program called "Recovering the Schapera Project" Additionally, because of damage to his vocal cords caused by surgery, he withdrew from socializing, though he maintained contact with students to stay up to date with ongoing anthropological studies. ==His legacy==