1. Definition, Two Branches, Criticisms
Historicism
Definition, Two Branches, Criticisms

2. In brief: Historicism mid 19th-20th C
Mode of thinking in which the basic significance of specific social context (time, place, local conditions) is essential
Notion of generalizable immutable (unchanging over time/unable to be changed) law in realm of social behaviour is rejected
Contrasted with reductionist theories (all developments can be explained by fundamental principles or theories that say that historical changes are a result of random chance)
Focuses on historical aspect of literature, pays close attention to way in which history can be interpreted and altered to influence an audience

3. In brief: Historicism
Developed out of dissatisfaction with theories of unilineal socio-cultural evolution (Darwin, Tylor, McLennan)
Later writers took concept and added racial overtones to the theories as way of explaining different rates of social and cultural development
Showed problem – assumption that Western European society was end of sequence and highest attainable level of development

4. In brief: Historicism Reaction to social evolutionism
Social evolutionism offered an explanation of what happened and where, but didn’t describe the influences on and process of cultural change and development
Thus, believed that historical approach was needed to explain not only “what” happened but also “why” and “how”
Two branches: diffusionism & historical particularism

5. Diffusionism
A sect of historicism – diffusionism explained this type of historical approach to cultural investigation
Concept that refers to spread of cultural trait from one geographical area to another through migration, colonization, trade, and cultural borrowings
German school
British school

6. British: Grafton Eliot Smith
Leading Figures of Diffusionism
British: Grafton Eliot Smith
German: Robert Fritz Graebner

7. British: G.E. Smith
All culture and civilization was developed only once in ancient Egypt and diffused OUTWARDS through rest of the world through migration and colonization
All cultures were tied together by this point of origin  worldwide cultural development viewed as reaction to native cultures to this diffusion of culture from Egypt
Didn’t really hold up long because didn’t have enough data

8. German: Fritz Graebner
More sophisticated historical approach
Theory of culture circles
Argued that culture traits developed in a few areas of the world and diffused in concentric circles or culture circles
Worldwide socio-cultural development viewed as function of interaction of expanding culture circles with native culture and other culture circles

9. Diffusionism Psychic Unity of Mankind:
Refer to common set of modes of thinking and characteristics that transcend individuals or cultures
Foundation for evolutionists – made it possible to determine society’s particular state of development relative to rest of world
British – used to confirm belief that civilization developed once in ancient Egypt and spread through migration and colonization – all humans share common set of characteristics and modes of thinking at a single origin of civilization and human culture
German – set of folk ideals (e.g. the idea of the deity represented as set of different folk ideas in individual cultures such as God, Allah, Buddha, Ra, etc.)

10. Historical Particularism

11. Historical Particularism
Franz Boas ( )
“The Father of American anthropology”
Believed social evolutionism and diffusion wasn’t provable – no data to support theories
Stressed importance of intensive fieldwork
Expedition to northern Canada – fascinated with Inuits
Necessary for investigator to examine all available evidence for a society even before investigation began
Believed that had to carry out detailed studies of individual cultures to discover distribution of culture traits and understand the individual processes of culture change at work
Stressed the meticulous collection and organization of ethnographic data on all aspects of many different human societies
Only after information on data of these different cultures had been gathered could any ort of generation about cultural development be made with any sort of accuracy

12. Historical Particularism
Disagreed with universal models and theories of cultural development
Believed that many different stimuli acted on development of a culture
Believed that could only be understood by examining the particulars of a specific culture so that sources of stimuli could be identified
Only then may theories of cultural development be constructed
Historically grounded investigation
More accurate and exhaustive than older models – but didn’t identify cross-cultural patterns

13. Historical Particularism
Theories regarding independent invention within human culture as incorrect
Believed that many cultures developed independently each based on own set of circumstances – geography, climate, resources, cultural borrowing
Reconstructing history of individual cultures requires investigation that compares groups of culture traits in specific geographical areas; then distribution of culture traits can be plotted
Once this is plotted for a general geographic area, patterns of cultural borrowing can be identified
Encouraged women to enter fieldwork

14. Historical Particularism
Cultural Relativism:
Suspension of judgment and cultural biases while attempting to understand beliefs and behaviours in local contexts
Avoiding ethnocentrism or “scientific racism”
Race as a biological concept and human behaviour best understood by these biological determinants
Boas – studied anatomy and showed that cranial shape and size dependent on environmental factors such as nutrition contrasting to claims that head shape was a racial trait
Differences in behaviour not by biological dispositions but cultural differences acquired through social learning
Not a new concept for historicists – Sophists in 5th C BCE
Suggests that own bias prevents us from observing something objectively, thus creating bias
We also have own culture bias which we cannot eliminate

15. Criticisms Issue of data collection and fear of making broad theories
Boas’ insistence on collection of data criticized even by own students
Some saw this amount of data being collected as knowledge that would never be synthesized by the investigator
Also, if the investigator was reluctant to generate broad theories on cultural development and culture change, didn’t see the point in gathering every single piece of evidence

16. Criticisms Problem with relativism Undermines concept of truth
If all knowledge is conditioned by history, knowledge has to be relative to particular factor of given era or time of history and there is no universally valid, eternally unchanging knowledge
Critics see as danger that undermines foundation of truth or idea of universally valid knowledge

17. References
Historicism