ANTH 303 Anthropological Theory
Fall 2017
Sept. 26: READ Boas, Franz (1920) “The Methods of Ethnology.” American Anthropologist 22(4): 311-320.

The following questions will help guide our discussion as we try to make sense of this, and other, theories. In addition, we will apply the theory to the video shown in the first day of class:

How can this theory be seen as a product of the historical period in which it was created?

What questions does this theory ask?

What information does this theory see as important?

What are other relevant assumptions made by the theory?

How does the theory analyse this information to answer the questions it sees as important?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

Some key concepts from Boas:
- non-comparative
- anti-evolutionist (à la Morgan, Tylor and Spencer)
- anti-diffusionist
- importance of history (the theory is often called historical particularism)
- cultural relativism
- anti-racist
- individuals product of society, but can have an impact on it
- inductive rather than deductive
- is it a theory? Or it is a methodology?
- scientific methodology
- psychology (note his students formed the culture and personality school)
- led to four-field approach in anthropology
- sparked salvage ethnography


Applying Boas to the video:
    - what is involved in this house/cleaning/partying/video? – things, social patterns, beliefs, stories, etc.
    - how is this house/cleaning/partying/video a product of the society in which it exists?
    - how did this particular set of circumstances come to be through this society’s  history?
    - is this woman’s video going to have an impact on cleaning (or partying or home decorating, etc.) in her society?
    - how are elements from other societies incorporated into this one?


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