Franz Boas
Father of American Anthropology and pioneer of cultural relativism
He argued that differences in human behavior result largely from cultural differences acquired through social learning, not innate biological dispositions.[1] Boas created the four-field subdivision of anthropology by uniting archaeology, physical anthropology, ethnology, and descriptive linguistics.[1] Born on July 9, 1858, and dying on December 21, 1942, Franz Uri Boas was a German-American who worked as an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist; he is recognized as a pioneer in modern anthropology and is often referred to as the "Father of American Anthropology".[2]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Franz Uri Boas
- Born
- 9 July 1858
- Birthplace
- Minden, Prussia (now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
- Died
- 21 December 1942
- Place of death
- New York City, U.S.
- Spouse
- Marie Krackowizer Boas (1887)
- Children
- Helene
- Ernst
- Hedwig
- Gertrud
- Henry
- Franziska
- Parents
- Meier Boas, Sophie Meyer Boas
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
He earned a doctorate in physics in 1881 after studying at Heidelberg, Bonn, and Kiel universities.[1][3] A geographical expedition to Baffin Island in 1883 sparked his fascination with Inuit culture and language.[1][4] In 1887 he emigrated to the United States, working as a museum curator at the Smithsonian before becoming a Columbia University anthropology professor in 1899.[1] Boas was a prominent opponent of scientific racism, showing that cranial shape and size were malleable due to environmental factors.[5]
He rejected evolutionary approaches to culture, arguing that culture develops historically through interactions and diffusion of ideas.[1] Boas advocated cultural relativism, the idea that cultures cannot be objectively ranked as higher or lower.[1] Sophie Meyer and Meier Boas were the parents of Franz Boas, who came into the world on July 9, 1858, in Minden, Westphalia.[6] A. L. Kroeber, Ruth Benedict, Edward Sapir, Margaret Mead, and Zora Neale Hurston were among the many notable individuals who studied under Boas.[1]
What the cited sources add
The same source records that in December 1883 the Talirpingmiut numbered 86 individuals and the Qinguamiut 60, for a total of 245 people.[7] Boas's 1885 geographical report "Baffin-Land" was published as a supplement to Petermanns Mitteilungen.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Franz Boas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moore, "Visions of Culture: an Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists", Altamira, 2009, p. 33–46 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Franz Boas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sue Carole DeVale, "Boas, Franz", Oxford University Press, 2001; Boas, Franz. A Franz Boas reader: the shaping of American anthropology, 1883–1911. University of Chicago Press, 1989. p. 308; Holloway, "The Paradoxical Legacy of Franz Boas—father of American anthropology", Natural History, November 1997; Stocking, George W. Jr. 1960. "Franz Boas and the Founding of the American Anthropological Association". American Anthropologist 62: 1–17.; Harris, Marvin. 1968. The Rise of Anthropological Theory: A History of Theories of Culture. New York: en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Franz Boas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lowie, "Franz Boas, 1858–1942", National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs, 1947, p. 303; Harris, 1968, p. 253.; Koelsch, 2004, p. 1.; Koelsch, 2004, p. 1; Cole, 1999, pp. 52 and 55.; Cole, 1999, p. 298.; Kroeber, "Franz Boas: The Man. American Anthropological Association", Memoirs, 1943, p. 5; Bohannan and Glazer, 1988, p. 81; Murray, Stephen O. 1993. Theory Groups and the Study of Language in North America: A Social History. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 47; Williams, Vernon J. Jr. 1998. Franz Boas Paradox and en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Franz Boas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Boas, "The Central Eskimo", Smithsonian Institution via Gutenberg, 1888, p. 399–670 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Franz Boas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gossett, "Race: The History of an Idea in America", Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 418; King 2019, p. 111, 179–180 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Franz Boas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Norman F. Boas, 2004, p. 291 (photo of the graveyard marker of Franz and Marie Boas, Dale Cemetery, Ossining, N.Y.) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Boas, "The Central Eskimo", Smithsonian Institution via Gutenberg, 1888, p. 399–670. facts only, no text reused. gutenberg.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Franz Boas (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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