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History of Anthropology

History of Anthropology. Brief Introduction to Significant Theorists and Ideas. Origins of Anthropology. Varying theories on when the discipline began Differing views on whether it is a natural science or a humanities subject

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History of Anthropology

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  1. History of Anthropology Brief Introduction to Significant Theorists and Ideas

  2. Origins of Anthropology • Varying theories on when the discipline began • Differing views on whether it is a natural science or a humanities subject • Today is clearly considered a social science, and many aspects cross over into other social science disciplines, such as psychology, history, sociology, philosophy, etc. • Elements of early origins trace back as far as the Greeks in 5 BCE • Missionaries, explorers, and philosophers all contributed to the early discipline

  3. Early Perspectives • 19th C. (Victorian age) idea of social evolution • Belief that all human societies develop in one particular direction (from savage to civilized) • European societies were believed to embody “civilized” (according to Europeans, of course!) • Technological advances of the Industrial Revolution and the spread of European colonialism contributed to this belief • Europeans believed that “white man’s burden” was to “civilize the savages” through colonialism and missionary work

  4. Cultural Evolutionists: Henry Maine of Britain • Britain: Henry Maine (1822-1888) • Made distinction between status and contract societies • Status societies are based on kinship and myth as operating principles • Contract societies are based on individual merit and achievement • Idea corresponds with later, modern theories • Overly simplistic, but still has an impact on anthropological thinking today

  5. Cultural Evolutionists:Lewis Henry Morgan • America: Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-82) • Published the first ethnography of the Iroquois • Outlined an evolutionary scheme that traced seven stages of societies from savage to civilized • Each of the stages was connected to technological achievement • Also focused heavily on kinship systems • His work influenced later philosophers and social scientists, such as Marx and Engels

  6. Cultural Evolutionists:Edward Tylor and James Frazer • Tylor (1832-1917) teacher • influenced Darwin • Outlined major fields of anthropology still used today • Wrote noteworthy definition of culture: “complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” • Frazer (1854-1941) student • Focused his work on myth and religion • Believed thought developed from the magical via the religious to the scientific • First person to hold title “Professor of Anthropology”

  7. Contrasting perspective:Adolf Bastian (1826-1905) • German ethnologist • Reacted against what he believed to be overly simplistic typological schemata • Instead of belief that all humans evolve in similar, straightforward pattern toward “civilization,” he believed that humans all have same pattern of thinking

  8. The Big Three of Social and Cultural Anthropology 1. Franz Boas (1858-1942): • German immigrant to America 2. Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942): • Polish immigrant to Britain 3. A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955): • British • Their theories moved the field away from evolutionism to actor, agency, and context studies

  9. Franz Boas: Father of American Cultural Anthropology • Studied Eskimo and Kwaikutl Indians of North America in 1890s • Four-field approach to American anthropology: cultural and social, physical, archaeology, linguistics • Emphasis on cultural relativism • Focused on collection of empirical data • Concerned about cultural change and loss of unique cultures • Influenced many later American cultural anthropologists who systemized his ideas

  10. Bronislaw Malinowski:Father of British Social Anthropology • Set the standard for ethnographic field work with his studies in Trobriand Islands • Emphasized immersing oneself in the culture completely • Focused on the individual’s actions within the framework of society’s social structure • Emphasis on “holism” • Believed inborn human needs were impetus behind development of social institutions (functionalism)

  11. A.R. Radcliffe-Brown:Major Influence on British Social Anthropology • Developed theory of structural-functionalism • Saw the acting individual as less important, emphasizing instead the social institutions • All social and cultural institutions are functional in maintaining overall social structure of a society

  12. Other Significant Theorists • Emile Durkheim • Marcel Mauss • Claude Levi-Strauss • E.E. Evans-Pritchard • Clifford Geertz • Victor Turner • Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf

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