Franz Boas
Franz Boas (1858-1942) was one of the pioneers of modern cultural anthropology. Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did post-doctoral work in geography. Although born and educated in Germany, he moved to the United States of America in part to escape growing anti-semitism in Germany. After working for the American Museum of Natural History, and teaching at Clark University, he founded the first PhD. program in anthropology in American, at Columbia University.Boas was strongly committed to empiricism, and was skeptical and critical of attempts to formulate "scientific laws" of culture. He was also a strong advocate of ethnographic fieldwork, and argued that specific cultural traits -- behaviors, beliefs, and symbols -- had to be understood in terms of their local context. As such, he was a major contributor to the anthropological concept of cultural relativism.
Boas also encouraged the "four field" concept of anthropology, and contributed not only to cultural anthropology but to physical anthropology, linguistics, and archeology as well. In physical anthropology he challenged various uses of the notion of race, and argued that there was no necessary or strong connection between race and culture.
His first doctoral student was Alfred Kroeber[?], another pioneer of American anthropology. He also trained Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict. He was, via Kroeber, an influence on Claude Lévi-Strauss.
ordered that they should be done this way--in short he committed every.html">every
authority. He did not hesitate to let it be known that he was there to
every one in the colony who had a grievance or an ill tale to carry,
disloyalty to the Admiral who had so handsomely recommended him to the
the Indians began to lodge their complaints and to see a chance by which
the place of Bartholomew, who had wisely made no protest against his own
might surely have been forgiven if he had betrayed extreme anger and
he concealed such natural wrath as he may have felt, and greeted Aguado
He made no protest, but decided to return himself to Spain and confront
occur periodically in the West Indies burst upon the island, lashing the
Among other things it destroyed three out of the four.html">four ships, dashing them
held to her anchor and, although much battered and damaged, rode out the
to the Admiral through so many dangers and trials. There was nothing for
make the journey home with two ships instead of with four.
Columbus heard a piece of news of a kind that never failed to rouse his
disgrace in Isabella some time before on account of a duel, and had
mouth of the river.html">river Ozama, near the site of the present town of Santo
his home with her. She, knowing the Spanish taste, and anxious to please
mines that there were in the neighbourhood, and suggested that he should
to the south coast. She provided him with guides and sent him off to
himself was therefore in no danger of punishment, he presented himself
mines; and sure enough they found in the river Hayna undoubted evidence
.
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