FRANZ BOAS 1858-1942

FRANZ BOAS
1858‐1942
Boas en route to Baffin Island 1883
and Central Inuit; to study reflectivity
of sea‐water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS3wqv96VcM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5NSKRc0
7Fo&feature=related
Dances
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS3wqv96
VcM
Odyssey Series on Boas

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Born on July 9, 1858 in
Minden, Westphalia, Germany
Parents: Meier Boas & Sophie
Meyer Boas
Married to Marie Krackowizer

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Studied geography & physics at
Universities of Heidelberg, Bonn,
and Kiel
Earned Bachelors University of
Heidelberg in 1881
Same year, earned Ph.D. from
University of Kiel

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Expedition to Baffin Land, Canada
in 1883-1884
Fieldwork among the Eskimo
Became interested in
anthropology
Immigrated to United States in
1885

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Worked for journal Science
Editorial position
Fieldwork along North Pacific
Coast of North America for
several museums 1885-1896

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Project for World's Fair in Chicago
1892-1893
Brought Native American cultures
to general public at the fair
Pioneered concept of life group
displays
Dioramas

CHICAGO WORLD’S FAIR DIORAMA

BOAS’ CAREER
Moved to New York in 1896
Became Assistant Curator of
Ethnology & Somatology
American Museum of Natural
History
Lectured at Columbia University
Professor of Anthropology,1899

BOAS’ WORK
Best known for work with
Kwakiutl Indians from Northern
Vancouver & adjacent mainland of
British Columbia, Canada
Established new concept of
culture & race

BOAS’ WORK
Everything was important to the
study of culture
Collecting data on all facets of a
culture was necessary to
understand that culture

KWAKIUTL INDIANS

KWAKIUTL INDIANS
Bear Totem Pole Wearing a Mask

CENTRAL ESKIMO (IGULIK) STUDY
Inuit can 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

Analyst seeks to understand phenomena by grasping
how they make sense within the framework of the
subject’s thought‐world
Hamats'a coming out of secret room," and "Kwakiutl Indian ceremony for
expelling cannibals."

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

THE PRACTICE OF MUSEUM
EXHIBITS
Boas at 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 the exhibited artifact secondary to the
monographic interpretation of a scientist

4/12 TYPOLOGICAL VS. LIFE GROUP
U.S. National Museum
Typological, 1890
U.S. National
Museum
Life group, 1896

MUSEUMS: ENTERTAINMENT,
INSTRUCTION, RESEARCH
Boas curator at the American
Museum 1896-1905
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”

CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Differences in peoples the result
of:
Historical
Social
Geographic conditions
All populations had complete and
equally developed culture

CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Countered early evolutionist view of
Louis Henry Morgan & Edward Tylor
Developed stages that each culture
went through during development
The views of Franz Boas and those of
his students changed American
anthropology forever

HISTORICAL PARTICULARISM
Each culture has a unique history
Should not assume universal laws
govern how cultures operate

ASSUMPTIONS OF HISTORICAL
PARTICULARISM:
1. Rejects general laws, ranking on
a scale, concept of “progress”
2. No simple or complex societies,
only different societies
3. The idea of “Unilineal evolution”
Based on speculation
4. Is ethnocentric 23

ASSUMPTIONS OF HISTORICAL
PARTICULARISM:
6. Not Culture, but cultures
7. Culture, not race, determines
behavior
8. Methodological rigor

BOASIAN CONCEPT OF CULTURE
• Superorganic —The product of
collective or group life; but the
individual has an influence
• Unconscious —A filter through which
reality is perceived, but which is not
itself the object of attention
• Adaptive —Culture ultimately helps
individuals adapt to their environment.

IMAGES OF NATIVE AMERICANS
//thesocietypages.org/socimages

SOCIAL
AND
CULTURAL
PHYSICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Four Field Approach
ANTHROPOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY
LINGUISTICS

Generation of anthropologists trained under Boas at
Columbia University and established Boasian
doctrines in North American universities:
Alfred A. Kroeber
Ruth Benedict
Margaret Mead
Rhoda Métraux
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

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
1937--Professor Emeritus of
anthropology at Columbia
University
Made anthropology into a
distinguished and recognized
science

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
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

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