Boasian school of anthropology

E14269

anthropological theory school of thought

The Boasian school of anthropology is a foundational intellectual tradition in American anthropology that emphasizes cultural relativism, historical particularism, and rigorous fieldwork to understand human cultures on their own terms.

Aliases (4)

Boasian anthropology ×4
Boasian school ×1
Boasian tradition ×1
Columbia University tradition in anthropology ×1

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	anthropological theory → school of thought →
academicContext	United States anthropology departments →
alsoKnownAs	American historical particularism → Boasian anthropology →
associatedDiscipline	American anthropology → cultural anthropology → linguistic anthropology →
associatedWith	Alfred L. Kroeber → Edward Sapir → Franz Boas → Margaret Mead → Melville J. Herskovits → Ruth Benedict → Zora Neale Hurston →
coreConcept	anti-essentialism about culture → distinction between culture and biology → importance of historical context in cultural analysis → plurality of cultures → rejection of race as a biological hierarchy →
countryOfOrigin	United States →
emphasizes	cultural relativism → historical particularism → rigorous ethnographic fieldwork → study of cultures on their own terms →
field	anthropology →
foundationalFor	four-field approach in American anthropology →
includesSubfield	Boasian cultural anthropology → Boasian linguistic anthropology →
influenced	American cultural anthropology → anthropological methods of fieldwork → culture and personality school → modern concepts of cultural relativism → studies of race and ethnicity in anthropology →
influencedBy	Franz Boas →
methodologicalFocus	collection of linguistic and cultural data → long-term fieldwork → participant observation →
namedAfter	Franz Boas →
opposes	biological determinism → scientific racism → unilineal cultural evolutionism →
supports	cultural relativism → particularistic analysis of cultures →
theoreticalOrientation	empiricism in ethnographic research → inductive theory-building from case studies →
timePeriod	early 20th century → late 19th century →

Referenced by (8)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Race, Language and Culture ("Columbia University tradition in anthropology") → The Nature of Culture ("Boasian tradition") →	associatedWith
Edward Sapir ("Boasian anthropology") → Franz Boas →	movement
American historical particularism ("Boasian school") → Man and His Works ("Boasian anthropology") →	relatedTo
Boasian school of anthropology ("Boasian anthropology") →	alsoKnownAs
Anthropology and Modern Life ("Boasian anthropology") →	influencedBy