Franz Boas, 1858 - 1942

## Quotes

“My whole outlook upon social life is determined by the question: How can we recognize the shackles that tradition has laid upon us? For when we recognize them, we are also able to break them.”  (Whitfield, 432)

“ It is certainly conceivable that there may be other civilisations, based perhaps in different traditions… which are of no less value than ours, although it may be impossible for us to appreciate their influence… Anthropology teaches us a higher tolerance than the one we now profess.” (Whitfield, 434)

“There are two matters to which I am devoted: absolute intellectual and spiritual freedom, and the subordination of the state to the interests of the individual; expressed in other forms, in which the individual can develop to the best of his own ability - as far as it is possible with a full understanding of the fetters imposed upon us by tradition; and the fight against all forms of power policy of states or private organizations. This means a devotion to the principles of a true democracy. I object to the teachings of slogans intended to befog the mind, of whatever kind they may be.” (Lewis 2001, 451)

## Biography and History

Franz Uri Boas was born in Westphalia, Germany on July 9th, 1858. He completed his doctorate of physical geography in 1881 and soon afterwards began his career as an anthropologist. As an Anthropologist, he was active from the middle of the period known as the birth of social science until the end of the period between the wars. Between 1883 and 1905 he would perform his two most famous ethnographic studies: that of the Eskimo culture in the Island of Baffin, and the of the Kwakiult Indians in British Columbia. It was also during this period that he would emigrate to America. From 1910 to 1911 he participated in a study that helped disprove the assumption that immigrants were in some way physically or mentally inferior (Franz Boas Papers, n.d.). Leading up to the First World War boas publicly opposed the United States entry. During the First World War, Boas campaigned on behalf of the scholars who were unjustly affected by the war. His public criticism of war, after the war, ultimately led to his resignation from The National Research Council. In the end, on December 22nd, 1942, Boas died from a heart attack while having lunch with a colleague (Whitefield, 2010,438).

## Work

During his lifetime Franz Boas published over 600 titles but his most famous work was "The Mind of Primitive Man" (1911). In it he attacked the concepts of evolutionism and racial determinism. (Lewis 2001, 453). His book concluded that races were mixed and had no inherent stability or superiority, as well as arguing that there existed no connection between the physicality of a population and the culture it developed (Whitefield, 2010, 431).

In addition to a large body of published work Boas worked to shift the discipline of Anthropology away from the principle of evolutionism, and towards the principle of cultural relativism (Jacknis, 2002, 520).

## Influences

Boaz belonged to the school of Functionalism, and due to his classical education in the Germanic intellectual tradition, Boas brought a unique style to American Anthropology (Jacknis, 2002, 521). His influence on the methods of conducting ethnographic surveys with a tendency towards antievolutionism, his use of diffusionist methods amongst other techniques became an important establishment in American Anthropology (Jacknis, 2002, 525).

His immense influence extended well beyond the scope of Anthropology and into the other social sciences. This can be seen by the fact that he was an important developer of statistics (Lewis 2001, 450), and the impact he had on sociologists of the university of Chicago: “...Carl Degler has documented Boas’ influence in turning the sociologists of the university of Chicago away from racial explanations of behaviour.” (Lewis 2001, 454)

This unique style of his also featured in his teaching method where he greatly influenced all his students. His impact on future generations of thinkers can be seen by the number of influential individuals who had been students of his: “Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Elsie Clews Parsons, Alfred Kroeber, Frank Speck, Edward Sapir, Zora Neale Hurston, Ella Deloria, Melville Herskovits, Leslie Spier, Paul Radin, and Ashley Montagu were all students of Boas.” (Whitefield, 2010, 432 & 435)

Even the author Claude Lévi-Strauss, in his book "La Pensée Sauvage," reflected the influence of Boas' publications on his own work as an ethnologist (Whitefield, 2010, 438).

## Analysis

Throughout his studies, Franz Boas questioned the ultimate scientific truth that was present in anthropology. He believed that “truths” were falsifiable and that they should always be criticised and developed. The scope of Boas’ Anthropology dealt as much in the “truths” presented by the physical sciences as it did in those presented by art. He also pushed forward the idea that anthropology could help mediate between cultures. He viewed it as a powerful tool to resolve conflicts between peoples by eliminating ignorance of other cultures (Lewis 2001, 450-451).

This was important during Boas’ time since most of the anthropological thought was axed towards beliefs of studying primitive cultures in relation to the educated colonial powers. He believed that Anthropologists should attempt to understand cultures in relations to the culture’s own context and not in relation to the anthropologist’s culture. This belief that cultural differences should not be judged according to one’s own culture was also a proponent to Boas’ belief of freedom of opinion and speech in relation to traditions and conditions. He believed that the study of anthropology should free human thought from the “shackles of tradition” (Jacknis 2002, 521) but, before that could happen, it first needed to be “purified” of the current post-colonial view of cultures being studied. His theory of cultural relativism was what emerged out of all of this. It promoted a new direction that cultural anthropology was to take and identified that human differences can be explained using "terms of cultural imperatives and social circumstances, rather than as a function of race (Whitehead, 2010, 435).” This was important at the time because it put in question the current system that was being used as a means to study cultures. Anthropologists of the time were found to analyse cultures using arbitrary classifications and relations that they had chosen.

## Critique

Boas was highly influential anthropologist, teacher, and activist. Due to his influential and outspoken nature he received criticisms in many spheres of life.

Among some of his contemporaries he was criticized as having been a mere collector of facts. In the same fashion his groundbreaking theory of cultural relativism was to likened to the mere act of collecting facts (Lewis 2001, 448). Cultural relativism has also been criticized as being unable to make absolute judgments in the matters of cultures. The argument followed that it would underestimate differences and assume universal sameness (Davis, 2008, 271).

Despite having some of the highest numbers of women enrolled in anthropology, as a professor Boas was criticized, by some of contemporaries, that he had treated his student, Zora Neale Hurston, as a mere informant rather than a researcher. His influence, it was argued, had made it more difficult for her to be an Anthropologist in her own right. While it was not argued by Zora Neale Hurston herself, and there is little evidence of it, it had been argued that she had mounted a passive resistance against Boas’ influence (Lewis 2001, 448 - 449).

Due to his influence as a liberal political activist and anthropologist, especially during wartime, the Nazis heavily denounced Boas and burned his works alongside those of other scholars such as Marx and Freud (Whitehead, 2010, 436).

## Sources

* Davis, J. (2008). Culture and Relativism. Society, 45(3), 270-276. doi:10.1007/s12115-008-9080-x
* Jacknis, I. (2002). The First Boasian: Alfred Kroeber and Franz Boas, 1896–1905. American Anthropologist, 104(2), 520.
* Lewis, H. S. (2001). The Passion of Franz Boas. American Anthropologist, 103(2), 445.
* Lewis, H. S. (2008). Franz Boas: Boon or Bane?. Reviews In Anthropology, 37(2/3), 169-200. doi:10.1080/00938150802038968
* Whitfield, S. (2010). Franz Boas: The Anthropologist as Public Intellectual. Society, 47(5), 430-438. doi:10.1007/s12115-010-9355-x
* Franz Boas Papers. Retrieved from American Philosophical Society: http://amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.B61-ead.xml