Franz Boas

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    Franz Boas: An Anthropological Pioneer Often referred to as the “father of modern anthropology”, Franz Boas is best known for establishing the area of cultural anthropology. Having possessed a scientific background with a doctorate in physics, he was one of the first scientists of his day to question the beliefs behind social Darwinism and scientific racism, and try to come to an understanding regarding the differences among people and their cultures. Boas dedicated his life to the study of anthropology, and he used his knowledge and drive to establish anthropology at academic institutions such as Columbia University. Here, Boas helped shape the minds of many of his students who would soon become very influential anthropologists. Born into…

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    Anthropologist Franz Boas is well-known for promoting the concept of cultural relativism. Meaning, practices, beliefs, and ideas within a certain culture make sense within that culture. As an outsider, certain beliefs or practices of cultures that are different from our own can easily be misunderstood or interpreted incorrectly. Although cultural relativism promotes the idea of respecting and understanding the beliefs and practices of different cultures, when does a certain practice/belief…

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    Archeology, Biological Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, and Linguistic Anthropology. The father of American anthropology, Franz Boas, introduced this four-field tradition through the amassing of holistic data collection through fieldwork expeditions. Although, each field has deepened our understanding of what makes us human, Boas and his students such as Edward Sapir, Alfred Kroeber, and Ruth Benedict work as sociocultural anthropologists have significantly shaped our ability to understand…

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    Franz Boas

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    Beginning in the 1920s, anthropology in America took a separate path away from the foundations of British social anthropology. Franz Boas, known as the father of American Anthropology, created a set of ideas that would revolutionize the field. His ideas included a rejection of unilinear social evolution, as well as historical particularism, or a focus on the history of a culture to find understanding. He believed that in order to fully understand the culture of a society, one must understand the…

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    He had a large impact on the turn toward more historical data collection, which he felt would lead to the improvement of anthropological theory (Harris 1968:262). Boas thought culture was tied to a groups history and not to biology. Neo-Kantian philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey believed that, “the path to the understanding of the inner life lies through the study of an individual’s history” (Harris 1968:269). This is related to Boas’ study and research with history. To truly understand one’s…

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    Franz Boas Primary Source

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    The author (Pullum, G. K.) in this book has shown a very strong view on how other authors have interpreted other papers written before them related to the incorrect vocabulary of Eskimos. Pullum merely points out that the information that is collected from one author can be presented in a completely different way by another. This arose between Franz Boas and Benjamin Lee Whorf from Boas’ primary source. To clarify, a primary source is a piece of original material which involves original thinking…

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    psychology such as having an open mind and trying to understand where people are coming from through their behavior and mental processes. The history of anthropology is connected to psychology on the premises that both sciences are attempting to see things from another perspective. As humans we are naturally curious about things we do not possess, this is what makes these fields so interesting to me. Modern Anthropology and American Anthropology have relatively recent history compared to most…

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    contrast, French culture consists of gravies and a great deal of milk and butter. French cuisine also is quite heavy in using meat products. French meals are usually accompanied by a glass of wine and cheese. Baguettes also hold a high value in French cuisine (Murray). Moving on, traditional Indian clothes consist of saris, lehengas, dupattas, and salwar kameezes for women and kurtas, dhotis, and lungis for men (Hitton). Opposing, French culture is known for high-end fashion. The French wear…

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    Franz Boas Racial Science

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    In 1911, the problems and invalidness of scientific racism became more exposed, especially the main problem with it. The main problem with racial science was its inability to distinguish between phenotypical, genetic, biological, and cultural variation among the human population along with having insufficient and invalid evidence to back it up. Franz Boas questioned and challenged the beliefs that race, culture, and language were all connected. He studied and observed different skulls of…

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    conclusion that “all anthropological scholars who studied human behavior with a camera share an interest in the cultural mechanics of body movement, locomotion, motor skills, gesture, posture, dance, the display of emotion, and space use” (Ruby 2000, 47). Therefore, as an anthropologist one should keep in mind that “the camera can only record bodies occupying space through time, it is these dimensions of culture that must be emphasized. At various times, this field has been paralinguistics and…

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