FRANZ BOAS Boas en route to Baffin Island 1883 and Central Inuit; to study reflectivity of sea-water

 VcM VcM  rMM rMM  Shackles of Tradition (52 min)

 Born: July 9, 1858  Minden, Westphalia, Germany  Liberal Jewish parents  Meier Boas & Sophie Meyer Boas  Married to Marie Krackowizer

 Anti-Semitism  “Germany” did not exist until 1871  Before 19 th century, 350 states linked by common language  Some large such as Austria & Prussia  Holy Roman Empire

 ”Scramble for Africa” ( )  European countries  Colonize African continent

 Three Emperors' League (1873)  Coordinated by German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck  Germany, Austria-Hungary, & Russia  Pledged to consult on matters of mutual interest

 Geography & physics at:  Heidelberg, Bonn, and Kiel   Bachelors degree, University of Heidelberg  Ph.D., University of Kiel

  Expedition to Baffin Land, Canada Fieldwork—Eskimo  tology#gs_ssp=eJzj4tDP1TfIMjDIBgAKNgJD&hl=en&q=ba ffin+island tology#gs_ssp=eJzj4tDP1TfIMjDIBgAKNgJD&hl=en&q=ba ffin+island  Anthropology  Immigrated to United States

 Journal Science  Editorial position  Fieldwork along North Pacific Coast of North America for several museums

 Chicago World's Fair  Native American cultures  Life group displays  Dioramas

 New York (1896)  American Museum of Natural History  Assistant Curator of Ethnology & Somatology (physical anthropology)  Columbia University:  Professor of Anthropology (1899)

 Best known: Kwakiutl Indians  Northern Vancouver & mainland of British Columbia, Canada  New concept of culture & race

 Everything important to study culture  Collect data on all facets of a culture  Not just religion, kinship etc.

Bear Totem PoleWearing a Mask

CENTRAL ESKIMO (IGULIK) STUDY Inuit perceive and name hundreds of colors and qualities of sea-water and surfaces unknown in European languages… Boas’ study: Earliest anthropological attempt to describe a non-European ‘ethno-science’ in phenomenological terms

Understand phenomena by grasping how they make sense within the framework of subject’s thought-world (cultural relativity) Hamats'a coming out of secret room," and "Kwakiutl Indian ceremony for expelling cannibals."

1885: 1885: First expedition to Northwest Coast (Bella Coola) 1886: 1886: First collecting trip for American Museum of Natural History (New York City) to Nootka and Kwakiutl — massive documentation of Northwest Coast culture

Demonstrating Eskimo harpooning, American Museum, 1900 No storage rooms, natural lighting, cases, life groups the most demanding (time, materials, skill), attempted realism. Labels – “the ultimate limitation to the possibility of a museum anthropology”. Boas believed exhibited artifact secondary to written interpretation by scientist

U.S. National Museum Life group, 1896 U.S. National Museum Typological, 1890

 Highest ranking Kwakiutl secret society  Kwakiutl dance - a winter initiation ceremony.  4 days long and very complex  Hamatsa dancers represent a cannibal spirit who lives in the sky (Bakbakwalanooksiwae)Bakbakwalanooksiwae  KA0 KA0

 Boas curator at American Museum  Over 90% of visitors “do not want anything beyond entertainment”  Visitor groups = children, school teachers, researchers  Researchers justify large museums “for the advancement of science”

 Differences in peoples result of:  Historical  Social  Geographic conditions  All populations have complete and equally developed culture

 Countered early evolutionist view of stages of development  Franz Boas and his students changed American anthropology

 Each culture has a unique history  Not assume universal laws for all cultures

1. Rejects general laws: R 1. Rejects general laws: Ranking, “progress nly different societies 2. No simple or complex societies Only different societies 3. Unilineal evolution= E thnocentric 27

4. Not Culture 4. Not Culture, but cultures 5. Culture 5. Culture, not race, determines behavior 6. Methodological rigor

Superorganic —Product of collective or group life Individual has an influence Unconscious — Filter through which reality is perceived Adaptive — Culture helps individuals adapt to environment

//thesocietypages.org/socimages REPRESENTATION OF THE “PRIMITIVE” AMERICAN INDIAN

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LINGUISTICS ARCHAEOLOGY PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Four Field Approach

Generation of anthropologists Generation of anthropologists trained under Boas at Columbia University Established Boasian doctrines in North American universities:  Alfred A. Kroeber  Ruth Benedict  Margaret Mead  Robert Lowie  Edward Sapir  Paul Radin  Alexander A. Goldenweiser  Clark Wissler

 Cultural Relativism  Historical Particularism   “Race, language, and culture” as independent variables  Superorganic  Cultural Determinism  Data Collection “without” theory  Emphasis on Fieldwork  4-field approach FRANZ BOAS

 Professor Emeritus of anthropology at Columbia UniversityColumbia University  Made anthropology into a distinguished and recognized science

 Author of many books, some of which are:  Growth of Children (1896 – 1904)  The Mind of Primitive Man, 1938  Primitive Art, 1927  Anthropology and Modern Life, 1938  Race, Language, and Culture, 1940  Dakota Grammar, 1941

 Boas, professor emeritus of anthropology at Columbia University, was entertaining Professor Paul Rivet and other colleagues at a luncheon in Faculty Club. Claude Levi- Strauss  He collapsed into arms of another well- known anthropologist, Claude Levi- Strauss, and died on December 21, 1942.