Volksgeist as Method and Ethic: Essays on Boasian Ethnography and the German Anthropological Tradition

359 Pages·1998·28.47 MB·English

by  George W. Stocking Jr. (editor)

HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Volume 1
Observers Observed
Essays on Ethnographic Fieldwork
Volume 2
Functionalism Historicized
Essays on British Social Anthropology
Volume 3
Objects and Others
Essays on Museums and Material Culture
Volume 4
Malinowski, Rivers, Benedict and Others
Essays on Culture and Personality
VolumeS
Bones, Bodies, Behavior
Essays on Biological Anthropology
Volume 6
Romantic Motives
Essays on Anthropological Sensibility
Volume 7
Colonial Situations
Essays on the Contextualization of Ethnographic Knowledge
Volksgeist as
Method and Ethic
Volks cist as
Mctho and Ethic
ESSAYS ON BOASIAN
ETHNOGRAPHY AND THE GERMAN
ANTHROPOLOGICAL TRADITION
Edited by
George W. Stocking, Jr.
HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Volume 8
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
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Library of Congress Catalogi~g-in-Publication Data
Volksgeist as method and' ethic: essays on Boasian ethnography and the
German anthropological tradition I edited by George W. Stocking, Jr.
358 pp. cm. - (History of anthropology; v. 8)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-299-14550-6 (doth: alk. p~per)
ISBN 0-299-14554-9 (pbk,: alk: paper)
1. Anrhropolc;>gy-Germany-,-History. 2-. Anthropology-Germany
Philosophy. 3. Boas, Franz, 1858-1942. 4. Anthropology-United
States-History. 5. Anthropology-United States-Philosophy.
I. Stocking, George W., 1928-: ; II. Series.
. GNl?V65 1996
301-dc20 95-25272
ISBN-13: 978-0-299-14554-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)
HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
EDITOR
George W. Stocking, Jr.
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
EDITORIAL BOARD
Talal Asad
Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University
James A. Boon
Department of Anthropology, Princeton University
James Clifford
Board of Studies in the History of Consciousness,
University of California, Santa Cruz
Donna J. Haraway
Board of Studies in the History of Consciousness,
University of California, Santa Cruz
Curtis M. Hinsley
Department of History, Northern Arizona University
Dell Hymes
Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia
Henrika Kuklick
Department of History and Sociology of Science,
University of Pennsylvania
Bruce G. Trigger
Department of Anthropology, McGill University
INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS
This, the eighth volume in the History of Anthropology series, is the last of
which George Stocking will be the primary editor. Beginning with Volume 10,
that role will be taken on by Richard Handler, Professor of Anthropology at
the University of Virginia, and author of several articles in previous volumes
in the series. Volume 9, to be jointly edited by Handler and Stocking, will be
devoted to a reassessment of the historiography of anthropology as it has de
veloped over the last quarter century, and to a consideration of the role that
History of Anthropology may appropriately playas anthropology enters the next
millennium. In addition to more general historiographical reflections, we
hope to include essays on specific historical cases or problems, drawn from the
work-in-progress of a range of authors (historians, anthropologists, and others,
representing different historiographical or historical-critical perspectives), as
exemplars or case studies of alternative approaches to the history of anthro
pology. Authors who wish to have their work considered for this or subsequent
volumes should communicate with
Richard Handler (HOA)
Department of Anthropology
Cabell Hall
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia, 22903 U.S.A.
All communications relating to standing orders, orders for specific volumes,
missing volumes, changes of address, or any other business matters should be
addressed to:
Customer Service
The University of Wisconsin Press
114 North Murray Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53715
Contents
BOASIAN ETHNOGRAPHY AND THE GERMAN
ANTHROPOLOGICAL TRADITION
3
THE STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY
Franz Boas
9
FRANZ BOAS AND THE HUMBOLDTIAN TRADITION:
FROM VOLKSGEIST AND NATIONALCHARAKTER TO AN
ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF CULTURE
Matti Bunzl
17
FROM VIRCHOW TO FISCHER:
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND "MODERN RACE THEORIES"
IN WILHELMINE GERMANY
Benoit Massin
79
GERMAN CULTURE AND GERMAN SCIENCE
IN THE BILDUNG OF FRANZ BOAS
Julia E. Liss
155
THE ETHNOGRAPHIC OBJECT AND THE OBJECT OF ETHNOLOGY
IN THE EARLY CAREER OF FRANZ BOAS
Ira Jacknis
185
"THE CULTURE AS IT ApPEARS TO THE INDIAN HIMSELF":
BOAS, GEORGE HUNT, AND THE METHODS OF ETHNOGRAPHY
Judith Berman
215
viii CONTENTS
"THE LITTLE HISTORY OF PITIFUL EVENTS";
THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND MORAL CONTEXTS OF
KROEBER'S CALIFORNIAN ETHNOLOGY
Thomas Buckley
257
ORIENTALlSM AS KULTURPOLITIK:
GERMAN ARCHEOLOGY AND CULTURAL IMPERIALISM IN ASIA MINOR
Suzanne Marchand
298
INDEX
337
Yo/bl/eist as
Method and Ethic