FRANZ BOAS

Biography, Theory and Contribution

FRANZ BOAS
• “Father of Modern Anthropology”
• One of the greatest and most
influential anthropologists
• He was the first person to implement
the scientific method into the study of
human cultures and societies.

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 Early life and Education
• Born in Minden, Westphalia, on July 9th 1858,
• Franz Boas showed an early interest in both nature and natural
sciences.
• He studied at the universities of Heidelberg, Bonn, and Kiel,
• He received his doctorate in physics and geography from the
University of Kiel in 1881.

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 Interesting Facts
• Boas was an outspoken opponent of racism, and used
anthropology to refute the scientific racism that was
popular during his time.
• His theory of cultural relativism held that all cultures were
equal, but simply had to be understood in their own
contexts and by their own terms.

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 Notable Publications
• The Mind of Primitive Man 
Handbook of American Indian Languages  
•Anthropology and Modern Life (1928), 
Race, Language, and Culture (1940)

•Race and Democratic Society - A collection of his essays,

articles, and lectures, which he had personally selected, was
published posthumously
- The book took aim at race discrimination, which Boas
considered the "most intolerable of all" forms.
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Work in Anthropology
• Boas became the first professor of anthropology at
Columbia University in 1899
• he trained the first generation of U.S. scholars in the field
• Famous anthropologists Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict
were both his students

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Work in Anthropology
• The emergence of anthropology as an academic discipline in
the U.S. connects closely to Boas' work

• Boas was also a key figure in the founding and development

of the American Anthropological Association (Primary
professional organization for anthropologists in the U.S.)

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 Anthropology
• In terms of anthropology as a discipline, Boas supported
what came to be known as the four-field approach.
Anthropology, for him, constituted the holistic study of
culture and experience, bringing together cultural
anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and
physical anthropology.

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FRANZ BOAS
• Franz Boas died of a stroke in
1942 at the Columbia University
campus
• He retired from the University in
1936, becoming emeritus in
residence.

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THANK YOU!
LEMMY C. DULNUAN