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Impact Of Franz Boas

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The Intent and Impact of Franz Boas

Introduction
In his article, “Engineering Internment: Anthropologists and the War Relocation Authority,” Orin Starn (1986) concludes that ethnographers should closely analyze “the circumstances surrounding anthropological participation, the intentions of the ethnographer, and the outcomes of their work” (p. 702). While he is specifically referencing the role of WRA anthropologists, his logic can be applied across the board. Throughout the semester, the class has grappled with, and even avoided on some occasions, the question, does intent or impact matter? What is interesting about intent and impact is how often they are artificially separated, especially when examining the history of anthropology. In their …show more content…

Lewis (2001) both provide different interpretations of the intent and impact of Franz Boas’s ideas on race and culture. While Visweswaran (1998) claims that current anthropologists have failed to take a critical analysis of Boas’s ideas on culture on race, Lewis (2001) claims that critiques made by Visweswaran and others “are often insensitive to historical context, eschew benign but equally reasonable alternative interpretations, and are cavalier about cause and effect” (p. 450). As demonstrated by the arguments provided by Visweswaran (1998) and Lewis (2001), there is an unproductive stand-off between anthropologists. Unfortunately, this will continue to happen until anthropologists realize that the measurement of intent is subjective and that the impact of anthropological work needs to be critically analyzed for what it is. As Lewis (2001) presents, each one of Boas’s critics supports their arguments about why Boas’s intentions were not as moral as one might perceive. However, these arguments, comparable to Lewis’, are supported using their own interpretations, rather than facts. In addition, as Visweswaran (1998) presents, anthropologists should not overlook how Boas’s construction of race and culture has affected anthropological thought, as well as other disciplines outside of anthropology, such as ethnic and cultural studies. In …show more content…

S. (2001). The Passion of Franz Boas. American Anthropologist, 103(2), 447-467.
Price, D. H. (2008). Anthropological Intelligence. The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War, 22, 70.
Silverman, S. (2005). The United States. In One Discipline Four Ways: British, German, French, and American Anthropology (pp. 255-347). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Starn, O. (1986). Engineering Internment: Anthropologists and the War Relocation Authority. American Ethnologist, 13(4), 700-720.
Stocking, G. W. (1965). On the Limits of ‘Presentism’ and ‘Historicism’ in the Historiography of the Behavioral Sciences. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 1(3), 211-218.
Visweswaran, K. (1998). Race and the Culture of Anthropology. American Anthropologist, 100(1),

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