Boas, Franz

Boas, Franz
(1858–1942)
   US anthropologist. Boas is considered a major figure in American anthropology and the pioneer of modern scientific methods in that discipline.
   Born and educated in Germany, he was at first a geographer. On an expedition to Baffin Land (1883) he came into contact with the Eskimoes and from then on anthropology became his dominant interest. In 1887, he settled in New York City and for nearly forty years, from 1899, was professor of anthropology at Columbia University. During that period he was president of the American Anthropological Society, curator of ethnology at the Museum of Natural History, and president of the New York Academy of Sciences.
   His field work and studies made him a leading authority on the cultures and languages of the Indians of the North-west Pacific coast. He was also able to establish links between the American Indians and those of northern Siberia. Boas strongly opposed the racial theories with which he had been familiar in Germany. He stressed the cultural environment as the central factor in anthropology, rather than race or geography. He supported his views by a large- scale survey of the physical differences between immigrant parents and their American-born children.
   His most important publications were Anthropology and Modern Life (1928, 1938), Race and Democratic Society (1945), Primitive Art (1927, 1945), The Mind of Primitive Man (1911, 1938), Race, Language, and Culture (1940).

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  • BOAS, FRANZ — (1858–1942), U.S. anthropologist who established anthropology as an academic discipline in the U.S.A. Born in Minden, Germany, he taught geography at the University of Berlin, which led to his Arctic expedition to Baffin Island in 1883–84.… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Boas, Franz — born July 9, 1858, Minden, Westphalia [Germany] died Dec. 22, 1942, New York, N.Y., U.S. German born U.S. anthropologist. Trained in physics and geography (Ph.D., 1881), Boas was part of an early scientific expedition to Baffin Island (1883–84),… …   Universalium

  • Boas, Franz — (1858–1942)    German anthropologist who spent most of his life in the United States and is known as a “founding father” of American (i.e., cultural) anthropology, at Columbia University heading the first Department of Anthropology in the country …   Historical dictionary of shamanism

  • Boas, Franz — ► (1858 1942) Etnólogo y lingüista alemán. Fue pionero en los estudios de campo de las lenguas amerindias. Su aportación a la teoría lingüística está en el análisis semántico de las formas gramaticales. Es autor del Manual de las lenguas de los… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Boas, Franz — (1858 1942) A German born anthropologist who founded modern cultural anthropology (see social anthropology ) in the United States. He and his students came to dominate American anthropology for the first three decades of the twentieth century.… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • Boas,Franz — Bo·as (bōʹăz), Franz. 1858 1942. German born American anthropologist who emphasized the systematic analysis of culture and language structures. * * * …   Universalium

  • Boas, Franz — (1858 1942)    American anthropol ogist. Born in Minden, Westphalia, he studied the Eskimos in Baffin Island. After teaching at Berlin University, he went to the US where he taught at Clark University, later becoming professor of anthropology at… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • BOAS, Franz — (1858 1942)    German/Jewish/American whose is considered one of the founders of ANTHROPOLOGY. He pioneered the technique fieldwork among the Kwakiutl of British Columbia. His works include    The Social Organization and Secret Societies of the… …   Concise dictionary of Religion

  • Boas — Boas, Franz …   Enciclopedia Universal

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