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 BOAS, Franz (1858-1942), German-American anthropologist and
ethnologist, born in Minden, and educated at the universities of Heidelberg, Bonn, and Kiel. In 1883-84 he made a scientific exploration of the Baffin Island region of the Arctic. Two years later he
immigrated to the U.S. and made the first of many trips to study the Kwakiutl and other Indian tribes in British Columbia. From 1888 to 1892 he was instructor of anthropology at Clark University, and in
1899 he became the first professor of anthropology at Columbia University, where he taught until 1937. He was also curator of ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History, New York
City, from 1901 to 1905. Boas organized and took part in the Jesup North Pacific expedition of 1902, which suggested the possibility of a strong relationship between northern Asian and
northwestern American cultures. He was president of the American Anthropological Society (1907-8) and of the New York Academy of Sciences (1910). Boas's anthropological studies
have become classics in the field. He pioneered in the use of a scientific approach to anthropology. He also demonstrated the necessity of studying a culture in all its aspects, including
its religion, art, history, and language, as well as the physical characteristics of the people. One of his most important conclusions was that no truly pure race exists, and that no race is innately
superior to any other. He wrote The Growth of Children (1896), The Mind of Primitive Man(1911), Anthropology and Modern Life (1928), and Race, Language, and Culture (1940). |
