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Flagler College
Scott Swan
VA 3-LIMON

Franz Boas is a German American anthropologist born on 9 July 1858 in Minden,

Germany. Before his demise in 22 December 1942, Franz studied natural sciences

and geography while attending the University of Heidelberg and the University of

Bonn, and graduated with a PHD in physics from the University of Kiel. In 1899,

Franz became the first professor of anthropology at Columbia University. Boas also

had a huge impact on the creation of the American Anthropological Association.

Being know as the “Father of American Anthropology”, Boas taught the first

generation of U.S. anthropology scholars. Students of his included big names in

anthropology such as Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict. Many of his graduate

students also went on to begin other anthropology departments in other universities

such as: University of California at Berkley, University of Chicago, and Northwestern

University. Boas is most known for his theory of cultural relativism, which explained

that all cultures are the same but had to be understood in their own terms. This led to

the belief that no one race is better than another fighting against racism. Other

notable works include: “The Mind of Primitive Man”, “Handbook of American Indian

Languages”, and “Race, Language, and Culture”. After his untimely death to a

stroke, collections of his essays, articles, and lectures were published under the title,

“Race and Democratic Society”.

1. Franz Boas did his fieldwork in the Innuit communities in Baffin Island off the

northern coast of Canada. After this he began many trips to the Pacific

Northwest to continue fieldwork. During his fieldwork, Boas came to believe

that all societies are fundamentally equal. He disputed the claim that
ANT201
Flagler College
Scott Swan
fundamental differences existed between societies that were deemed

civilized versus “savage” or “primitive”. Boas claimed that all human groups

were fundamentally equal but needs to be understood within their own

culture.

2. Boas championed the practice of presenting artifacts in their context rather

than attempting to arrange them according to imagined evolutionary process.

3. Franz Boas is known as the “Father of Anthropology” because of his work to

establish the first PhD program in the anthropology discipline in the US. He

also trained and taught the first generation of US anthropologists in the field.

This led to the expansion of anthropology in universities throughout the

country. Another reason is because of his key role figure in the founding of

the American Anthropological Association. Today this remains as the primary

professional organization for anthropologists in the U.S.

4. The concept of “cultural relativism” stated that all cultures were essentially

equal but had to be understood in their own culture. The idea is that

comparing cultures against each other is like comparing apples to oranges, it

just doesn’t make sense.

5. Boas denounced the belief that different racial or ethnic groups were more

advanced than others. This opposed scientific racism that stated that racial

differences could be attributed to underlying biology.