Franz Boas : The Father Of American Anthropology Essay

Father Franz Boas--Father of American Anthropology Franz Boas is often referred to as the father of American anthropology because of the great influence he had in the lives and the careers of the next great generation of anthropologists in America. He came at a time when anthropology was not considered a true science or even a meaningful discipline and brought an air of respectability to the profession, giving those who followed a passion and an example of how to approach anthropology. Boas directed the field studies and trained such prominent anthropologists as Alfred Louis Kroeber, Robert Lowie, Margaret Mead, as well as others. Although he did not leave as his legacy any specific line of thought, he left a pattern that was

An anthropologist usually, at the beginning of their career, conduct ethnographic research in a foreign country or remote location to validate themselves as a “bonafide anthropologist” (Brondo 43). Eventually however, the anthropologist will return home often to conduct research around their own familiar ethnic group. Tsuda refers to the anthropologists return to familiar territory as an “Ethnographic homecoming” (Brondo 44). The use of ethnographic methods in the anthropologist’s home or familiar environment is what Tsuda means by “native anthropology”.

There are many unanswered questions in the field of anthropology to this date due to the fact of undocumented information for thousands of years. There is a huge question whether or not culture evolves similar to evolution. This is a question that needs information that isn’t held by humanity from thousands of years ago to study from. There are also the bigger unanswered questions that needs information that dates back to the beginning of humans on earth like, was there one universal language?

Before an anthropologist is to set foot in another man’s land; research is first to be done. An anthropologist will read up on previous studies and articles done by past anthropologists.

1. The concept of descent with modification, or evolution, has a great deal of evidence in its support. Indicate the major types of evidence?

Their most popular monument is this stone of the sun known as the calender stone.

Many Anthropologists explore the idea of becoming culturally conscious by discussing possible ways to view other cultures. For Ruth Benedict, viewing a culture is seeing the world through a lense. For Carol Delaney, it is seeing that there is a commonality between cultures, in this sense it is the idea of initiation rituals. For Susan Harding, being able to view a culture revolves around being open to being affected by culture. From these Anthropologist’s works, I found ways and examples in which I have noticed differences or similarities between cultures, and how I have become more culturally conscious based on their ideas of how one becomes culturally conscious.

Ruth Benedict was a cultural anthropologist born in the 19th century. She feels that it is very important to study a primitive culture’s individual traits

Dr. Lind believes that being an applied anthropologist requires a number of varying skills. Most importantly on his list is being flexible, he says that it is important to be flexible when working with different populations, teams, and conducting research. Dr. Lind stated, “You will rarely work alone as an Anthropologist, research requires the expertise of multiple people”. He also emphasized trusting your knowledge and no being scared to speak up in your area of expertise. Another important skill that Dr. Lind told me was of importance is knowing what different research methods will get you the results you want and to have a strong background in varying anthropological and methodological research methods.

Anthropology, as a discipline in the field of human sciences, is based on certain ethical principles to guide its practitioners through their research. This creates a stable framework on which to start any research project. Avoiding deviation, however, can be complicated. Anthropologists have a responsibility to their field,

Although the scale of this investigation is rather small I found for practicing anthropology to be different than I had originally anticipated. After the process I have concluded that conducting properly as an ethnographer in the moment is rather challenging. Although none of my original questions were leading I skewed them during the conversation and therefore allowed room for my influence to persuade the interviewee. Secondly, I have learned that at certain points during an interview, formal or informal, it is necessary to give up the agenda and follow the natural flow of the conversation. Letting the interviewee fully articulate their thoughts without interruption is the best way to stimulate meaningful responses. From this experience I learned that it is important to remain conscious of the original agenda while anticipating change in order to adapt preemptively. In some cases, particularly for larger research agendas, investigating the topic before the interview process could benefit the findings. Although my specific topic is more personal to individuals than other ethnographies, prior research could include statistics of siblings at college institutions and various other numbers supporting or negating whether or not it is a positive thing for family members to go to college together. If I were to continue research on this topic I would take it upon myself to

In anthropology, we push ourselves to channel examinations in a way that does not hurt the people we are studying. It helps use understand people outside our judging views. From the cases I’ve read, researchers haven’t always organized honest studies.

Watson believes that anthropologists like many other social scientists do very little compared to what their counterparts in the natural science perform especially when describing their equipment alongside the conditions under which their research was conducted (Watson, 1999). It is high time anthropologists became explicit about themselves, the primary tool for gathering vital information and autobiographical features of their

The title for the position itself expresses the need for a focus on qualitative methods, which as stated above has been greatly crafted through the combination of tools and methods learned in the discipline. The section, Primary Purpose, calls even further for a need of expertise in qualitative and mixed method research. Regarding quantitative methods, anthropologists would likely develop these skills, perhaps not to a similar level of expertise as those of qualitative methods. However, by using a mix of both qualitative and quantitative methods it would not be a major weakness in this context as expertise in qualitative methods can support those in quantitative. As the primary purpose, it is clear that this strength of anthropology is the most fundamental within this context. It is with this skill that they would find a great deal of success, if they are able to surpass the challenge of communication and interpersonal connection as will be discussed

I think this is the perfect time for me to be involved in a team-based research project. I have enough background knowledge to work with others to successfully carry out research. Yet, on the other side of things, much more still remains in my study of anthropology. The new skills I will gain from this research experience will prove to be beneficial as I continue my education and I eventually run independent research projects. By working with a team to conduct anthropological research, I will be more prepared to complete independent anthropological research in the future and after completing the project, I will be able to appreciate the ethnographies of others more fully.