Franz Boas dan
Antropologi (Amerika)
Disusun oleh:
Indraini Hapsari (1806165321)
Franz Boas
That said, one must still insist on the formative (or
perhaps better, reformative) role of Franz Boas, both
intellectually and institutionally.
Although he did not develop a systematic theory of
culture, his critique of nineteenth-century racial and
cultural evolutionary assumptions, both in anthropology
and popular thought, not only cleared the way for the
emergence of a more “anthropological” (i.e. pluralistic,
holistic, non-hierarchical, relativistic, behaviorally-
determinist) concept of culture, but in the process
established some of its essential presuppositions
(Stocking, Jr. 1996: 4).
Profil Franz Boas
• Lahir di Minden,
Westphalia, Jerman pada
9 Juli 1858.
• Di tahun 1882, ia menulis
surat untuk pamannya,
Abraham Jacobi, yang
berisi mengenai riwayat
akademik yang pernah
ditempuhnya serta
rencana akademiknya.
Sumber gambar: https://www.biography.com/people/franz-boas-
9216786
Isi Surat Boas untuk Pamannya
Perjalanan akademik
The “Psychophysical”
Rencana penelitiannya pada orang
Inuit (Eskimo) di Pulau Baffin
“Anthropogeographical”
A Year Among the Eskimo
(1883-1884)
“Anthropogeographical” Combining formal description
of the physical geography of the area with an analysis of
the relation of its inhabitants to their local surroundings
(1996: 53).
A Study of Geography (1887)
It is a remarkable fact, that, in the recent literature of
geography, researches on the method and limits of that
science occupy a prominent place (1996: 9).
The Physic Vs. The Cosmography
A Study of Geography (1887) (cont.)
Where is the position of geography?
Our consideration leads us to the conclusion that
geography is part of cosmography, and has its source in
the affective impulse, in the desire to understand the
phenomena and history of a country or of the whole
earth, the home of mankind (1996: 16).
Boas and Ethnology
Assistant at the Royal Ethnographic Museum in
Berlin
Moving to United States (1887)
Evolutionary thinking in American
anthropology
Critics to Otis T. Mason
“The Tribal Arrangement”
Classifying human inventions and other ethnological
phenomena in the light of biological specimens
We have to study each ethnological specimen individually in its history
and in its medium, and this is the important meaning of the
“geographical province” which is so frequently emphasized by A.
Bastian. By regarding a single implement outside surrounding, outside
of other phenomena affecting that people and its productions, we
cannot understand its meaning (1996: 57).
The Responses to Boas’ “The Tribal
Arrangement”
His critics would not hold up in light of
axiom that logical specimens using the
“methods and instrumentalities of the
biologist” (1996: 58). - Mason
It was unfeasible because it would require
too much space and would lead to
“monotonous and meaningless” duplications
of material (1996: 58) - Powell
Boas and Early Twentieth-century American
Anthropology
Boas’ position at the American Museum of National
History in NY (1895) and physical anthropology at
Columbia University
“The Limitations of the Comparative Method of
Anthropology” (1896)
Historicist Counter-Enlightenment
Historicist Counter-Enlightenment
1. The skepticism of finding natural laws governing
human behavior;
2. The rejection of psychic unity of humanity, operating
according to rational principles regardless of space and
time;
3. The focus on individuality and diversity of phenomena
as opposed to their similarity and universality;
4. The emphasis on actual historical development in
place of conjectures and speculation, on induction as
opposed to deduction.
(1996: 62)
Boas and Humboldtian Tradition
Wilhelm von Humboldt Alexander von Humboldt
• Influenced the humanistic • Central figure in the
discipline. development of the natural
• The rejection to French science in Germany.
Enlightenment The German • His contribution to geology,
Counter-Enlightenment (Kant mineralogy, meteorology
and Hamann).
helped to establish
• Johann Gottfried Herder geography as a scientific
Volkgeist.
discipline.
• Rejecting “natural laws” as the
driving force of history.
Conclusion: Boas’ Alternative Method
on Anthropological Research
In order to find the actual “process” of cultural
development, Boas proposed “a detailed study
of customs in their relation to the total culture
of the tribe practicing them, in connection
with an investigation of their geographical
distribution. This would reveal the
“environmental conditions,” the “psychological
factors,” and the “historical connections”
(1996: 62).
