Estranhos no Exterior - As Correntes da Tradição (Franz Boas)

00:54:34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK5lYPeAbDM

الملخص

TLDRO vídeo detalha a vida e as contribuições de Franz Boas, um antropólogo que, em 1883, chegou ao Ártico canadense para mapear a costa e estudar a cultura Inuit. Durante sua estadia, Boas se dedicou a entender a relação entre os Inuit e seu ambiente, desafiando a ideia de que a cultura era determinada apenas por fatores ambientais. Ele documentou a vida e as tradições dos Inuit, enfatizando a importância da linguagem e da identidade cultural. Boas também se destacou na preservação de culturas indígenas na América do Norte, organizando projetos de pesquisa e defendendo a igualdade racial. Suas ideias revolucionaram a antropologia e mudaram a percepção sobre raça e cultura nos Estados Unidos, tornando-o uma figura central na disciplina.

الوجبات الجاهزة

  • 🌍 Boas estudou a cultura Inuit no Ártico canadense.
  • 🗺️ Ele mapeou a costa e documentou a vida dos Inuit.
  • 📚 Desafiou a ideia de que o ambiente determina a cultura.
  • 📝 Enfatizou a importância da linguagem na identidade cultural.
  • 💡 Contribuiu para a preservação de culturas indígenas.
  • ⚖️ Defendeu a igualdade racial e desafiou a eugenia.
  • 👨‍🏫 Teve um impacto significativo na educação em antropologia.
  • 📖 Suas ideias mudaram a percepção sobre raça e cultura nos EUA.
  • 🔍 A antropologia deve valorizar todas as formas de cultura.
  • ❤️ A visão de Boas sobre a civilização era de aprendizado mútuo.

الجدول الزمني

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    A experiência de um ano como esquimó influenciou profundamente a visão do narrador sobre o comportamento humano. Em 1883, o cientista Franz Boas chegou ao Ártico canadense para mapear a costa e estudar a cultura local, aprendendo a língua inuit e se integrando à comunidade esquimó.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Boas não tinha a ambição inicial de estudar a cultura humana, mas sua paixão pela região polar e seu treinamento em geografia o levaram a coletar material antropológico e estudar a relação dos esquimós com seu ambiente.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    A pesquisa de Boas foi inovadora, pois antes dele, os esquimós não haviam sido estudados de perto. Ele completou o primeiro levantamento preciso da costa de Cumberland Sound e observou a vida esquimó, escrevendo sobre suas experiências em cartas e diários.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Boas ficou impressionado com o conhecimento detalhado dos esquimós sobre a geografia de sua terra, desafiando a ideia de que a vida deles era totalmente determinada pelo ambiente. Ele percebeu que a cultura era moldada por fatores além do ambiente.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Durante sua experiência, Boas se envolveu na vida esquimó, caçando e vivendo como eles, e começou a questionar as noções de superioridade cultural, reconhecendo a riqueza das tradições esquimós.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Após retornar à Alemanha, Boas se mudou para os Estados Unidos, onde encontrou um ambiente intelectual mais livre e se casou. Ele se tornou um defensor da cultura indígena e organizou exposições para mostrar a vida nativa americana.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Boas trabalhou para preservar a cultura dos povos indígenas da costa noroeste da América, coletando objetos e documentando suas tradições, em resposta à ameaça de desaparecimento cultural devido à colonização.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Ele formou uma parceria com George Hunt, um membro da tribo Quakwal, para documentar a vida indígena, enfatizando a importância da linguagem e da cultura na identidade social.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    Boas desafiou as ideias raciais da época, argumentando que as características raciais não determinavam o potencial humano. Ele se opôs ao eugenismo e defendeu a igualdade racial, influenciando o pensamento antropológico nos Estados Unidos.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:54:34

    Franz Boas é considerado o pai da antropologia americana, tendo ensinado e influenciado muitos estudantes ao longo de sua carreira. Sua obra continua a impactar a forma como entendemos a cultura, a linguagem e a diversidade humana.

اعرض المزيد

الخريطة الذهنية

فيديو أسئلة وأجوبة

  • Quem foi Franz Boas?

    Franz Boas foi um antropólogo que estudou a cultura Inuit no Ártico canadense e é considerado o pai da antropologia americana.

  • Qual foi o objetivo inicial de Boas ao chegar ao Ártico?

    Ele chegou para mapear a costa e estudar a cultura local.

  • Como Boas desafiou as ideias sobre o ambiente e a cultura?

    Ele observou que a cultura não era apenas determinada pelo ambiente, mas também por fatores sociais e humanos.

  • Qual foi a contribuição de Boas para a preservação de culturas indígenas?

    Ele documentou e preservou as tradições e a cultura de várias tribos indígenas na América do Norte.

  • Como Boas influenciou a percepção sobre raça?

    Ele argumentou que as características raciais não determinavam o potencial humano e desafiou as ideias de eugenia da época.

  • Qual foi o impacto do trabalho de Boas na antropologia?

    Ele mudou a forma como a antropologia era praticada e ensinada, enfatizando a relatividade cultural.

  • O que Boas acreditava sobre a linguagem?

    Ele via a linguagem como um veículo essencial para a identidade cultural.

  • Como Boas se destacou na educação?

    Ele ensinou na Universidade de Columbia por meio século e influenciou muitos estudantes que se tornaram antropólogos.

  • Qual foi a visão de Boas sobre a civilização?

    Ele acreditava que todas as formas de cultura têm valor e que devemos aprender com as tradições de outros.

  • Como Boas morreu?

    Ele faleceu repentinamente durante um almoço na Universidade de Columbia.

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التمرير التلقائي:
  • 00:01:09
    Hey,
  • 00:01:13
    hey, hey,
  • 00:01:19
    hey, hey.
  • 00:01:33
    A year of life as an Eskimo among
  • 00:01:36
    Eskimos had a profound influence upon
  • 00:01:38
    the development of my views because it
  • 00:01:41
    led me away from my former interests and
  • 00:01:44
    towards the desire to understand what
  • 00:01:46
    determines the behavior of human beings.
  • 00:02:08
    In 1883, a young German scientist called
  • 00:02:11
    France Boaz arrived here in the Canadian
  • 00:02:14
    Arctic.
  • 00:02:22
    Hey hey
  • 00:02:29
    hey. He came here to do two things. He'd
  • 00:02:33
    originally done part of his training in
  • 00:02:35
    geography. And he was going to map as
  • 00:02:37
    much of the coastline, which was pretty
  • 00:02:39
    much uncharted in those days, as
  • 00:02:41
    possible. He was also going to indulge
  • 00:02:44
    his new interest, the study of culture.
  • 00:02:48
    The year before he came up here, he'd
  • 00:02:49
    been reading up as much as possible
  • 00:02:51
    about the Arctic. But unlike most
  • 00:02:54
    explorers, he'd also bothered to take
  • 00:02:55
    some courses in the local language
  • 00:02:59
    intuk. He arrived at Kirkton Island just
  • 00:03:02
    over that hill, which was run by a wher
  • 00:03:05
    called James Mch. It was a thriving
  • 00:03:08
    station at the time and in fact the
  • 00:03:10
    largest Inuit settlement in the area.
  • 00:03:13
    James Mutch made caribou clothing for
  • 00:03:16
    Boaz and his servant William Vik and
  • 00:03:19
    outfitted them with a team of dogs. In
  • 00:03:22
    the course of the 12 months he was up
  • 00:03:24
    here, Boaz traveled something like 3,000
  • 00:03:27
    miles on foot, by boat, and on sleds
  • 00:03:31
    like this.
  • 00:03:33
    The work he was to do up here was
  • 00:03:36
    eventually to change the direction of
  • 00:03:38
    his own life, but it was also to change
  • 00:03:40
    the way we think about other cultures
  • 00:03:42
    and the way we think about ourselves.
  • 00:03:46
    Okay.
  • 00:03:55
    Boaz didn't set out with a specific
  • 00:03:57
    ambition to study human culture, but he
  • 00:03:59
    had dreamt of going to the polar regions
  • 00:04:01
    since his boyhood in Germany.
  • 00:04:05
    He was born in 1858 in mind,
  • 00:04:09
    Westfailia. His father was a prosperous
  • 00:04:11
    businessman in the town and at the age
  • 00:04:13
    of 20, Boaz left home to study geography
  • 00:04:16
    at the University of H Highleberg.
  • 00:04:22
    It was during his year of compulsory
  • 00:04:24
    military training in 1881 that he
  • 00:04:26
    decided to study the relation of the
  • 00:04:28
    Eskimo to their
  • 00:04:30
    environment. In his own words, he was
  • 00:04:33
    going to collect anthropological
  • 00:04:35
    material and make a thorough study of
  • 00:04:37
    the language, customs, and habits of the
  • 00:04:40
    Eskimo.
  • 00:04:42
    anthropology was beginning to take form
  • 00:04:46
    and develop about the time that he
  • 00:04:49
    entered the picture. It was an exciting
  • 00:04:51
    new
  • 00:04:52
    field and it offered an opportunity to
  • 00:04:56
    get some idea of the dynamics of culture
  • 00:04:59
    and their growth and development and
  • 00:05:00
    their
  • 00:05:01
    adaptation and the way they spread and
  • 00:05:05
    many many aspects of this which would be
  • 00:05:08
    fundamental to understanding our own
  • 00:05:10
    culture and our own way of life and this
  • 00:05:14
    kind of research was innovative and uh
  • 00:05:18
    pioneering. So it offered a very
  • 00:05:21
    exciting prospect to him. Before Boaz's
  • 00:05:24
    day, the Eskimo who lived all around the
  • 00:05:27
    North Pole cap had not been closely
  • 00:05:29
    studied. He undertook a geographical
  • 00:05:32
    expedition to map uncharted areas of the
  • 00:05:34
    coastline of Baffin Island and to get to
  • 00:05:37
    know the different groups of Eskimo who
  • 00:05:39
    lived there.
  • 00:05:43
    The only way to the Arctic in those days
  • 00:05:45
    was by boat when the ice had melted and
  • 00:05:47
    Boaz readily accepted passage to
  • 00:05:49
    Cumberland Sound on a ship called the
  • 00:05:51
    Germania.
  • 00:06:05
    In his months on Baffin Island, Boaz was
  • 00:06:07
    to complete the first accurate survey of
  • 00:06:10
    Cumberland Sound and Davis Strait, a
  • 00:06:12
    considerable piece of Arctic exploration
  • 00:06:15
    in
  • 00:06:21
    itself. But today, the trip is better
  • 00:06:24
    remembered for his observations of
  • 00:06:26
    Eskimo life. He wrote articles for a
  • 00:06:29
    German newspaper who had partly
  • 00:06:31
    sponsored his trip. But he also kept a
  • 00:06:33
    diary of letters to present to his
  • 00:06:36
    fiance on his return. These provide a
  • 00:06:39
    fascinating insight into the ambitions,
  • 00:06:42
    frustrations, hardships, and loneliness
  • 00:06:44
    of Arctic exploration before the turn of
  • 00:06:47
    the
  • 00:06:49
    century. Only two days more and the year
  • 00:06:52
    begins which will take me to you. The
  • 00:06:55
    time passes almost too quickly for the
  • 00:06:57
    amount of work I have to do here. If I
  • 00:07:00
    accomplish everything, I still will not
  • 00:07:02
    have the time to finish the map and the
  • 00:07:04
    ethnographic work. I shall, however,
  • 00:07:07
    attain my own purposes very well. I know
  • 00:07:10
    very accurately about the migration of
  • 00:07:11
    the Eskimo and the routes they take, how
  • 00:07:14
    they travel back and forth, and their
  • 00:07:16
    relationship to neighboring tribes.
  • 00:07:25
    One of the things that intrigued him as
  • 00:07:26
    a geographer was their detailed
  • 00:07:28
    knowledge of the landscape. A fact he
  • 00:07:31
    discovered when he started to chart the
  • 00:07:33
    coastline. As their knowledge of all the
  • 00:07:36
    directions is very detailed and they are
  • 00:07:38
    skillful draftsmen. They can draw very
  • 00:07:41
    good charts. If a man intends to visit a
  • 00:07:44
    country little known to him, he has a
  • 00:07:46
    map drawn in the snow by someone well
  • 00:07:49
    acquainted there. And these maps are so
  • 00:07:51
    good that every point can be
  • 00:08:04
    recognized.
  • 00:08:07
    Foreign speech. Foreign speech.
  • 00:08:26
    If I if this is uh Froisha Bay here
  • 00:08:30
    and this is Allen Island here. Yeah.
  • 00:08:34
    Which is the north on this map?
  • 00:08:43
    The Eskimo exhibit a thorough knowledge
  • 00:08:45
    of the geography of their country. The
  • 00:08:48
    area they travel over is of considerable
  • 00:08:51
    extent. They have a very clear
  • 00:08:53
    conception of all the countries they
  • 00:08:55
    have seen or heard of. Knowing the
  • 00:08:57
    distances by days journeys or as they
  • 00:09:00
    say by sleeps and the directions by the
  • 00:09:03
    cardinal
  • 00:09:05
    points. Boaz got the Eskimo of
  • 00:09:07
    Cumberland Sound to draw these maps on
  • 00:09:09
    paper. These he collected and brought
  • 00:09:12
    back. They compared remarkably well with
  • 00:09:15
    his own.
  • 00:09:18
    As a geographer, he'd been taught to
  • 00:09:20
    believe that the life of people like the
  • 00:09:22
    Eskimo was entirely determined by their
  • 00:09:26
    environment. He was finding out the hard
  • 00:09:29
    way that this couldn't be the case.
  • 00:09:35
    Today, I went hunting, but not with
  • 00:09:38
    exactly splendid success. The only thing
  • 00:09:41
    I shot was pulled under the ice by the
  • 00:09:43
    current. There I sat like an Eskimo
  • 00:09:46
    behind my icehole at the water's edge
  • 00:09:48
    and patiently waiting for a head to
  • 00:09:51
    appear. I cannot imagine what an
  • 00:09:53
    impression it makes in this cold season
  • 00:09:55
    to sit so near the edge of the water and
  • 00:09:58
    to hear the roaring and foaming. Thick
  • 00:10:01
    fog from the cold water envelops me. At
  • 00:10:04
    my feet the water foams and hisses. Only
  • 00:10:08
    a strong current keeps the water from
  • 00:10:09
    freezing here.
  • 00:10:15
    Last night I dreamt very vividly that I
  • 00:10:18
    was in America and with you. The dream
  • 00:10:21
    was so vivid that I was most
  • 00:10:23
    disappointed when I woke up in the
  • 00:10:24
    morning to find myself in the
  • 00:10:26
    igloo. You must not imagine that such a
  • 00:10:29
    snow hut is a cold home. It is
  • 00:10:32
    completely papered with skins and two
  • 00:10:34
    lamps are kept burning. These supply
  • 00:10:37
    light and heat. We all sit on a large
  • 00:10:40
    platform which is covered with caribou
  • 00:10:42
    skins. But I think I still prefer a
  • 00:10:45
    European home.
  • 00:10:47
    Today I hunted just as an Eskimo with a
  • 00:10:51
    spear and all that goes with it. Oxetung
  • 00:10:54
    was the only one who caught anything.
  • 00:10:56
    Two seals which I immediately
  • 00:10:59
    acquired. As you see, Marie, I am now a
  • 00:11:02
    true Eskimo. I live as they do, hunt
  • 00:11:05
    with them, and belong to the men of
  • 00:11:08
    Anan.
  • 00:11:11
    Some Baffin Island communities live a
  • 00:11:12
    life that is in many ways the same as
  • 00:11:14
    the one that Boaz witnessed in
  • 00:11:16
    Cumberland Sound almost 100 years ago,
  • 00:11:19
    and the qualities that so impressed him
  • 00:11:21
    then are still needed for
  • 00:11:24
    survival. Today, the populations that
  • 00:11:26
    Boaz called Eskimo are known as the
  • 00:11:29
    Inuit. For those like Akashu who choose
  • 00:11:32
    to live a largely traditional life,
  • 00:11:35
    hunting for food during winter is still
  • 00:11:37
    precarious, even with a rifle.
  • 00:12:02
    Like his ancestors, Akashu and his
  • 00:12:04
    family live largely off caribou or seal.
  • 00:12:07
    Even with all the help of a new
  • 00:12:09
    technology, game can be hard to kill.
  • 00:12:12
    This was the eighth seal he had stalked
  • 00:12:13
    that day. The others had all got away.
  • 00:12:37
    What's up?
  • 00:12:58
    Boaz witnessed life among the Eskimo
  • 00:13:00
    firsthand. It was hardly a case of the
  • 00:13:03
    gentleman explorer. He saw how much they
  • 00:13:05
    depended on their environment and how
  • 00:13:07
    unyielding it could be. But he also
  • 00:13:10
    depended on them. And as he charted the
  • 00:13:13
    coast and filled in the physical
  • 00:13:15
    features of their landscape, he was
  • 00:13:17
    impressed by the way in which they had
  • 00:13:19
    mastered life on top of the
  • 00:13:22
    world. Whether it was traveling over ice
  • 00:13:24
    and snow, tracking and hunting game, or
  • 00:13:27
    fabricating their clothes and houses, or
  • 00:13:30
    caring for their teams of dogs, Boaz had
  • 00:13:33
    to admit, as he reflected on human life
  • 00:13:35
    in the frozen north that what he had
  • 00:13:37
    learned as a geographer was incomplete.
  • 00:13:41
    He came to realize that the Eskimo often
  • 00:13:43
    did things in spite of the restrictions
  • 00:13:45
    of their surroundings and not because of
  • 00:13:48
    them. Environment wasn't the only thing
  • 00:13:51
    that determined culture.
  • 00:14:22
    Oxon has caught two seals today and
  • 00:14:25
    every man in the settlement is to
  • 00:14:27
    receive a piece. Is it not a beautiful
  • 00:14:31
    custom among these savages that they
  • 00:14:33
    bear all deprivations in common and also
  • 00:14:36
    are at their happiest best eating and
  • 00:14:39
    drinking when someone has brought back
  • 00:14:41
    booty from the
  • 00:14:46
    hunt? The Eskimo are sitting around me,
  • 00:14:49
    their mouths filled with raw seal liver.
  • 00:14:52
    The spot of blood on the back of the
  • 00:14:54
    paper shows you how I joined in.
  • 00:15:01
    I often ask myself what advantages our
  • 00:15:05
    good society possesses over that of the
  • 00:15:08
    savages and find the more I see of their
  • 00:15:11
    customs that we have no right to look
  • 00:15:13
    down upon them. We have no right to
  • 00:15:16
    blame them for their forms and
  • 00:15:18
    superstitions which may seem ridiculous
  • 00:15:21
    to us.
  • 00:15:22
    We highly educated people are much
  • 00:15:25
    worse. Relatively speaking,
  • 00:15:30
    a person's worth should be judged by the
  • 00:15:34
    warmth of his heart.
  • 00:15:49
    Today, most of the Inuit on Baffin
  • 00:15:51
    Island live in towns like Frobisha Bay.
  • 00:15:54
    But this Inuit community, formed around
  • 00:15:56
    one family, have made the decision to
  • 00:15:58
    live away from those largely white
  • 00:16:00
    settlements.
  • 00:16:47
    We
  • 00:16:57
    Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign
  • 00:16:58
    speech.
  • 00:17:22
    Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign
  • 00:17:23
    speech.
  • 00:17:44
    I believe if this trip has for me as a
  • 00:17:47
    thinking person a valuable experience,
  • 00:17:50
    it lies in the strengthening of the
  • 00:17:52
    viewpoint of the relativity of all
  • 00:17:55
    cultivation and that the evil as well as
  • 00:17:57
    the value of a person lies in the
  • 00:18:00
    cultivation of the heart which I find or
  • 00:18:03
    do not find here just as much as amongst
  • 00:18:06
    us. And that all service therefore which
  • 00:18:09
    a man can perform for humanity must
  • 00:18:12
    serve to promote truth. Indeed, if he
  • 00:18:15
    who promotes truth searches for it and
  • 00:18:17
    spreads it, it may be said that he has
  • 00:18:20
    not lived in
  • 00:18:22
    vain. In 1885, Boaz returned to Germany.
  • 00:18:30
    I was working in the Royal Ethnographic
  • 00:18:32
    Museum of Berlin, cataloging the
  • 00:18:34
    collection of Bellacula
  • 00:18:37
    masks. My fancy was struck by the flight
  • 00:18:40
    of imagination in the works of art. I
  • 00:18:44
    could see the wealth of thought hidden
  • 00:18:46
    behind the grotesque masks of these
  • 00:18:47
    tribes. The attraction became
  • 00:18:50
    irresistible
  • 00:18:54
    because academic jobs were hard to come
  • 00:18:56
    by for people like Boaz. America seemed
  • 00:18:59
    like a better
  • 00:19:00
    prospect. His liberal views and Jewish
  • 00:19:02
    origins counted against him in Germany.
  • 00:19:05
    They would matter less in a country with
  • 00:19:07
    so many established immigrant
  • 00:19:11
    communities. And then there were affairs
  • 00:19:13
    of the heart. His fianceé Mary
  • 00:19:15
    Krakavitza lived with her family in New
  • 00:19:19
    York. In America, Boaz had found himself
  • 00:19:22
    a freer intellectual climate, a new
  • 00:19:25
    home, and a devoted wife. In 1887, he
  • 00:19:29
    married. He also found himself an
  • 00:19:31
    anthropological project that was to
  • 00:19:33
    occupy him for the rest of his life.
  • 00:19:38
    In 1893, Chicago hosted a World
  • 00:19:40
    Colombian exposition. As chief assistant
  • 00:19:43
    to the anthropology section, Boaz
  • 00:19:45
    arranged for native peoples to show off
  • 00:19:47
    their cultures. A group of Eskimos, for
  • 00:19:50
    example, built an igloo and worked their
  • 00:19:52
    dogs. But now his major interest was the
  • 00:19:55
    cultures that lived on the northwest
  • 00:19:57
    coast of America. His ambition to
  • 00:20:00
    display the richness of native Indian
  • 00:20:02
    life led on to a job as curator at the
  • 00:20:05
    American Museum of Natural History in
  • 00:20:07
    New York. He came here in the late
  • 00:20:11
    1890s and during that time
  • 00:20:14
    he did a tremendous amount of work in
  • 00:20:17
    building up the research program.
  • 00:20:22
    It began with an idea of Boaz's to go
  • 00:20:27
    out and work in the northwest coast and
  • 00:20:31
    work with the Indian groups there
  • 00:20:34
    because they were being endangered of
  • 00:20:36
    disappearing and their culture uh
  • 00:20:39
    disintegrated. We wanted
  • 00:20:42
    to make as complete a collection of the
  • 00:20:45
    their culture as possible and preserve
  • 00:20:48
    as much of their material culture as he
  • 00:20:51
    could. Stretching from Alaska down to
  • 00:20:54
    northern California through present day
  • 00:20:56
    British Columbia, the tribes of the
  • 00:20:58
    northwest coast of America were one of
  • 00:21:00
    the richest and most distinctive areas
  • 00:21:02
    of cultural wealth that Europeans had
  • 00:21:05
    encountered.
  • 00:21:10
    The Pacific coast here forms an
  • 00:21:12
    inextricable net of channels and
  • 00:21:15
    fjords. Numerous islands form a narrow
  • 00:21:18
    passage of water from the southern tip
  • 00:21:20
    of British Columbia to Alaska through
  • 00:21:23
    which the ships collide as if on a
  • 00:21:26
    river. This is a primeval country in all
  • 00:21:29
    its loneliness. For a European, it is
  • 00:21:32
    interesting to see nature so free.
  • 00:21:39
    You can understand why anyone might
  • 00:21:41
    think that environment entirely
  • 00:21:42
    determines the way a culture develops
  • 00:21:45
    when you come up here to the Pacific
  • 00:21:46
    Northwest coast of America. These
  • 00:21:50
    islands are as dramatic and as
  • 00:21:52
    mysterious as the cultures they
  • 00:21:53
    produced. Of course, Boaz knew that
  • 00:21:56
    environment wasn't the only thing that
  • 00:21:58
    shaped the way a culture developed. In
  • 00:22:00
    1886, he came up here to trace some of
  • 00:22:03
    the other factors by considering the
  • 00:22:05
    culture among the tribes of these
  • 00:22:07
    islands. And what a fantastic group of
  • 00:22:10
    tribes they
  • 00:22:15
    were. Tribes like the Klingit, Simpson,
  • 00:22:18
    Haida, Bellakula, and the tribe that
  • 00:22:21
    Boaz came to know best, the Quaky.
  • 00:22:27
    For Boaz, this was an exciting area,
  • 00:22:30
    mainly because of the way in which the
  • 00:22:31
    tribes were related to each other. On
  • 00:22:34
    the other hand, there were certain
  • 00:22:35
    strong similarities in their culture.
  • 00:22:38
    They shared common customs, beliefs, and
  • 00:22:41
    ideas. Boaz hoped that the pattern of
  • 00:22:44
    the differences and the similarities
  • 00:22:46
    between the tribes as he moved from area
  • 00:22:49
    to area would reveal more about the way
  • 00:22:52
    in which a culture was shaped.
  • 00:24:59
    At the end of the last century, the
  • 00:25:00
    activities of traders, administrators,
  • 00:25:03
    and of course, the missionaries were
  • 00:25:05
    changing native life forever. And Boaz
  • 00:25:07
    felt that his subject matter in all its
  • 00:25:09
    aspects was disappearing. So he set
  • 00:25:12
    about trying to save as much of it as
  • 00:25:14
    possible. The way he went about this was
  • 00:25:17
    to collect everything he found that had
  • 00:25:19
    anything to do with the Indian way of
  • 00:25:21
    life.
  • 00:25:26
    In 1886 at Fort Roupert, then the center
  • 00:25:29
    of Quacut life, Boaz got to know a
  • 00:25:31
    prominent family called Hunt. It was
  • 00:25:34
    with George Hunt that he struck up one
  • 00:25:36
    of the most remarkable partnerships in
  • 00:25:38
    anthropology.
  • 00:25:40
    Agnes Alfred is one of the very few
  • 00:25:42
    people left who remember the old days.
  • 00:25:45
    As Chief Bobby Joseph explains,
  • 00:25:48
    she she was born here at Village Island.
  • 00:25:51
    uh born in the winter. She doesn't
  • 00:25:54
    remember the month, but it was 96 years
  • 00:25:57
    ago she was born.
  • 00:25:58
    96. Did France Boaz ever come here? Did
  • 00:26:01
    she remember France Boaz?
  • 00:26:07
    Yeah, she she
  • 00:26:11
    was. Oh,
  • 00:26:16
    she says that obviously Abas did come
  • 00:26:20
    here.
  • 00:26:27
    That's very important. She says that
  • 00:26:29
    George uh Hunt worked very closely with
  • 00:26:31
    uh with Boath, not only as an
  • 00:26:34
    interpreter, but as a total resource
  • 00:26:36
    person. Granny says that had it not been
  • 00:26:39
    for George Hunt and Boaz's effort that a
  • 00:26:41
    lot of the traditions and customs now
  • 00:26:44
    recorded may not have been recorded.
  • 00:26:47
    Together they were scrupulously to
  • 00:26:48
    document the world of a culture that
  • 00:26:50
    nearly vanished. They collected
  • 00:26:52
    everything they could of Indian life.
  • 00:26:55
    Boaz taught Hunt how to write Quaky and
  • 00:26:58
    this meant that whilst he was away from
  • 00:26:59
    the field, Hunt could continue as the
  • 00:27:01
    field researcher. They published papers
  • 00:27:04
    jointly and Boaz later emphasized that
  • 00:27:06
    Hunt had made an indispensable
  • 00:27:08
    contribution to his
  • 00:27:10
    research. In 1901, Boaz's experience in
  • 00:27:13
    organizing the material objects of
  • 00:27:15
    cultural life, both in Berlin and
  • 00:27:17
    Chicago, landed him a job as curator at
  • 00:27:20
    the American Museum of Natural
  • 00:27:30
    History. Here he was radically to change
  • 00:27:32
    the emphasis and aims of organizing
  • 00:27:35
    museum display.
  • 00:27:44
    For him, these items should not just be
  • 00:27:46
    a collection of curios, but rather
  • 00:27:48
    impart systematic information and
  • 00:27:51
    provide healthy entertainment and
  • 00:28:01
    instruction. He held this post
  • 00:28:03
    simultaneously with that of professor of
  • 00:28:05
    anthropology at Columbia University in
  • 00:28:07
    New York. But he didn't only teach. He
  • 00:28:10
    was also responsible for organizing a
  • 00:28:12
    massive research project known as the
  • 00:28:14
    Jessup North Pacific
  • 00:28:16
    Expedition. This, among other things,
  • 00:28:19
    was aimed at documenting facts about the
  • 00:28:21
    physical characteristics, culture, and
  • 00:28:23
    languages of all the tribes of the area,
  • 00:28:26
    as well as collecting the elaborate
  • 00:28:28
    objects that they made.
  • 00:28:48
    If you want to know more about an
  • 00:28:50
    object, it helps not only if you know
  • 00:28:52
    how it was made, but what it was made
  • 00:28:54
    for. Because of his intimate and
  • 00:28:57
    detailed knowledge of Indian life, Boaz
  • 00:29:00
    was able to place each of these objects
  • 00:29:02
    in its original context, he understood
  • 00:29:05
    where it fitted into Indian life. So, it
  • 00:29:07
    wasn't just another item in a museum
  • 00:29:11
    catalog. This splendid carving, for
  • 00:29:13
    example, of an eagle is a representation
  • 00:29:16
    of a mythical ancestor of a family that
  • 00:29:20
    Boaz knew well living at Fort Rert. It's
  • 00:29:23
    a revealing mask and it shows that from
  • 00:29:26
    the mythical ancestor, the original and
  • 00:29:29
    first member of the family appeared on
  • 00:29:32
    Earth. It's a funeral mask and three or
  • 00:29:36
    four days after the death of a relative.
  • 00:29:38
    It was used in the ceremony to symbolize
  • 00:29:41
    the fact that once someone had died,
  • 00:29:44
    they eventually returned to a land where
  • 00:29:48
    all members of that family were once
  • 00:29:50
    again eagles.
  • 00:29:55
    The ancient and elaborate cultural life
  • 00:29:57
    of peoples like the Quakotal was
  • 00:29:59
    recorded in minute detail by France
  • 00:30:01
    Boaz. Fortunately, we also have a visual
  • 00:30:04
    record of what some aspects of life
  • 00:30:07
    actually looked like. As one of Boaz's
  • 00:30:09
    contemporaries was the great
  • 00:30:11
    photographer of American Indians, Edward
  • 00:30:14
    Curtis. Curtis had been traveling around
  • 00:30:16
    America making a photographic record of
  • 00:30:19
    every remaining Indian tribe.
  • 00:30:23
    As there were enough people alive who
  • 00:30:25
    remembered the old ways, Curtis
  • 00:30:27
    commissioned Indians to recreate life as
  • 00:30:29
    it used to be. These were usually
  • 00:30:32
    dramatic events like the landing of war
  • 00:30:34
    canoes or performing of ceremonies in an
  • 00:30:37
    authentic fashion and he paid them to
  • 00:30:39
    make all the necessary traditional
  • 00:30:42
    objects. Although it was recreating the
  • 00:30:45
    past and frowned upon by Boaz, it did
  • 00:30:47
    place on record just how elaborate
  • 00:30:49
    ceremonial life had been.
  • 00:31:06
    One unusual feature of certain of these
  • 00:31:08
    ceremonies was the disposal of vast
  • 00:31:11
    quantities of personal wealth to the
  • 00:31:13
    guests who attended.
  • 00:31:15
    The distribution focused on two
  • 00:31:17
    particular objects and raised
  • 00:31:19
    interesting questions about value and
  • 00:31:21
    exchange within the
  • 00:31:23
    culture. Knowing what objects are
  • 00:31:25
    doesn't always tell you everything about
  • 00:31:27
    them. This piece of copper in the shape
  • 00:31:30
    of a shield, for example, was almost
  • 00:31:32
    certainly never used in combat. And this
  • 00:31:35
    amazingly intricate and beautiful
  • 00:31:37
    blanket of mountain goats hair was not
  • 00:31:40
    designed to keep people warm. They're
  • 00:31:42
    ceremonial objects and particularly fine
  • 00:31:45
    examples of their kind. They have great
  • 00:31:48
    value for collectors of native art
  • 00:31:50
    today. But when they circulated
  • 00:31:52
    originally among the tribes along the
  • 00:31:54
    northwest coast, they had a value that
  • 00:31:57
    couldn't simply be measured in terms of
  • 00:32:00
    money. This copper in the shape of a
  • 00:32:03
    shield is a very interesting example of
  • 00:32:05
    one of the things that puzzles
  • 00:32:07
    anthropologists. On one level, they are
  • 00:32:10
    a form of currency. In fact, the highest
  • 00:32:12
    denomination in a native system of high
  • 00:32:15
    finance. On the other, they are
  • 00:32:19
    ceremonial objects, objects of great
  • 00:32:21
    prestige. To own them is an honor. A
  • 00:32:24
    lot's known about each individual
  • 00:32:26
    copper. We know who made this one, for
  • 00:32:28
    example. We know that it was called the
  • 00:32:30
    killer whale
  • 00:32:32
    copper. They could be bought or sold.
  • 00:32:35
    They could be exchanged. They could even
  • 00:32:37
    be given away. And very often they were
  • 00:32:40
    actually cut up and pieces of the copper
  • 00:32:42
    were distributed. Very often they were
  • 00:32:45
    even thrown into the sea as a flamboyant
  • 00:32:49
    gesture. All of this behavior went on
  • 00:32:51
    using the copper as a token of exchange
  • 00:32:54
    in a ceremony both lavish and complex
  • 00:32:57
    that has earned these tribes a lot of
  • 00:32:59
    attention from anthropologists and
  • 00:33:01
    rightly so because it was at the focus
  • 00:33:04
    of their lives. That ceremony was called
  • 00:33:07
    the potlatch.
  • 00:33:17
    The economic system of the quagutal
  • 00:33:19
    Indians finds its expression in the
  • 00:33:21
    so-called
  • 00:33:22
    potlatch. The Indian has no system of
  • 00:33:25
    writing and therefore to give security
  • 00:33:27
    to transactions they are performed
  • 00:33:29
    publicly. This public contracting and
  • 00:33:32
    paying of debts is the potlatch. It is
  • 00:33:35
    largely based on credit just as is the
  • 00:33:37
    economic system of civilized
  • 00:33:38
    communities.
  • 00:33:40
    The standard of value is the blanket.
  • 00:33:43
    But for larger transactions, objects of
  • 00:33:45
    imaginary value are used instead,
  • 00:33:48
    particularly pieces of copper. These may
  • 00:33:50
    strictly be compared to our banknotes.
  • 00:33:56
    Boaz learned to use film to supplement
  • 00:33:58
    his anthropological record. The subjects
  • 00:34:01
    he chose were not spectacular, but they
  • 00:34:03
    were an important record of aspects of
  • 00:34:06
    Indian life. a woman swinging her baby
  • 00:34:09
    in a cot.
  • 00:34:13
    George Hunt carving wood and other
  • 00:34:15
    crafts like spinning or weaving.
  • 00:34:22
    He wanted to record the attitudes,
  • 00:34:24
    postures and movements that went with
  • 00:34:26
    various tasks and skills.
  • 00:34:39
    She's not that optimistic that it may
  • 00:34:41
    survive. Although she's encouraged by
  • 00:34:44
    the numbers of uh people who still hold
  • 00:34:47
    our traditions and our beliefs strongly
  • 00:34:49
    and those are um demonstrated through
  • 00:34:52
    contemporary pot. She's now be held now
  • 00:34:54
    being held every year by young people.
  • 00:34:56
    So she's encouraged by that, but she's
  • 00:34:58
    not certain if that way of life will
  • 00:35:01
    sustain itself.
  • 00:35:10
    Village Island, one of the former
  • 00:35:11
    centers of Quakyal culture, is now
  • 00:35:14
    completely deserted. Bobby Joseph
  • 00:35:16
    recalls life as it was.
  • 00:35:20
    Part of the reason for the exodus from
  • 00:35:22
    these places like Village Island, a
  • 00:35:25
    social pressure to change to to adopt a
  • 00:35:28
    white man's way. And we were taught and
  • 00:35:31
    told that the way to do that was to
  • 00:35:33
    become educated and to be productive and
  • 00:35:35
    be employed all the time. So people went
  • 00:35:38
    with their children to uh places where
  • 00:35:41
    there were uh learning centers where
  • 00:35:43
    they thought there would be a better
  • 00:35:44
    chance for their children to survive.
  • 00:35:46
    You know what sort of houses were these?
  • 00:35:49
    These were communal houses um two room
  • 00:35:51
    houses where a family of five or six
  • 00:35:53
    might live. You know these would
  • 00:35:56
    probably be the first houses here. And
  • 00:35:58
    uh you would notice that a lot of them
  • 00:35:59
    were built along the for sure because
  • 00:36:02
    they were seafaring people. They they
  • 00:36:04
    just love being uh close to the water.
  • 00:36:08
    This village is quite famous for the uh
  • 00:36:11
    potlatch that it held once upon a time.
  • 00:36:14
    Yeah. One of the most famous poses uh
  • 00:36:16
    ever held was held in 1921 by Chief Dan
  • 00:36:19
    Krenmer where the authorities uh
  • 00:36:21
    including RCMP and the uh government of
  • 00:36:24
    Canada and missionaries chose to uh
  • 00:36:27
    prosecute uh those participating in that
  • 00:36:30
    pilot because it was already once for
  • 00:36:32
    all. Yeah. And once and for all trying
  • 00:36:33
    to stamp it out like Yeah. It had
  • 00:36:35
    already been banned by then. So what
  • 00:36:38
    happened to uh the people who taken
  • 00:36:40
    part? Oh uh quite a few of them were um
  • 00:36:43
    prosecuted and jailed where over 22
  • 00:36:46
    people were went to jail and others gave
  • 00:36:48
    up their the quagutal are not satisfied
  • 00:36:51
    with the symbolism of their heraldry but
  • 00:36:54
    like to add a dramatic touch to their
  • 00:36:55
    representations. This appears most
  • 00:36:57
    clearly in the images which their chief
  • 00:36:59
    set up on high poles fronting the houses
  • 00:37:02
    and in others which are placed in the
  • 00:37:03
    center of the house in feasts. They are
  • 00:37:06
    intelligible to the audience, but their
  • 00:37:08
    meaning is further elucidated by songs,
  • 00:37:11
    speeches, and actions. This totem pole
  • 00:37:14
    stands in the middle of Quacural
  • 00:37:16
    territory here on Village Island. It's
  • 00:37:20
    the ultimate proclamation of Indian
  • 00:37:23
    identity. But it's not the size so much
  • 00:37:25
    that impresses us. It's the fabulous
  • 00:37:28
    wooden carvings. And they're literally
  • 00:37:30
    fabulous. Each one of these animals
  • 00:37:33
    comes from a fable to which the family
  • 00:37:36
    for whom this pearl was made could lay
  • 00:37:38
    claim. They are crests if you like. In
  • 00:37:41
    this case, the family could lay claim to
  • 00:37:44
    killer whale, raven, wolf, and grizzly
  • 00:37:48
    bear. This pole represents the status
  • 00:37:51
    and the identity of the family that
  • 00:37:53
    commissioned it. The fables and the
  • 00:37:56
    animal emblems would be full of meaning
  • 00:37:59
    for the man, his family, his friends,
  • 00:38:02
    his allies, and for his
  • 00:38:06
    rivals. Some of these villages are now
  • 00:38:08
    deserted, and the meaning of most of
  • 00:38:10
    these symbols has faded from memory. So,
  • 00:38:13
    it's tempting to think that the culture
  • 00:38:15
    is dead.
  • 00:38:17
    But because of anthropologists like Boaz
  • 00:38:19
    and of course the people themselves, the
  • 00:38:22
    culture is very much alive and well. In
  • 00:38:25
    fact, it's undergone a
  • 00:38:27
    revival. Among the most prominent
  • 00:38:30
    families involved in keeping the
  • 00:38:31
    traditions alive are still the Hunts.
  • 00:38:34
    The artist Richard Hunt is descended
  • 00:38:36
    from George Hunt, the man Boaz trained
  • 00:38:38
    to observe and record his own culture.
  • 00:38:48
    I started about 20 years ago uh carving
  • 00:38:51
    with my father
  • 00:38:53
    um just watching him in the basement and
  • 00:38:55
    and learning playing with his tools and
  • 00:38:57
    then finally uh trying to find a style
  • 00:39:00
    for myself. Took about 10 years before I
  • 00:39:03
    realized what you know what it was
  • 00:39:05
    supposed to look like. And then after
  • 00:39:06
    that then it started becoming finer and
  • 00:39:08
    finer and I started working on a style
  • 00:39:10
    of my own. I see myself as a
  • 00:39:14
    a traditional artist because I still
  • 00:39:16
    make pieces that are used in pot latches
  • 00:39:18
    that people order to be used. Um that's
  • 00:39:21
    the meaning comes out when people ask
  • 00:39:23
    you to carve something for them. Now if
  • 00:39:25
    I wasn't carving the right thing, I
  • 00:39:26
    wouldn't be getting asked very many
  • 00:39:28
    times to do um carvings for people. So
  • 00:39:31
    do you think anthropologists like Boaz
  • 00:39:34
    have helped keep the tradition alive at
  • 00:39:35
    all? Yeah, he kept a good record of uh
  • 00:39:39
    the dances, the uses of the masks
  • 00:39:41
    because some of the masks uh we wouldn't
  • 00:39:43
    know how they would have been used
  • 00:39:45
    unless um you we looked at what he wrote
  • 00:39:48
    and you know because all the older
  • 00:39:50
    people are are going now so there's not
  • 00:39:52
    really enough of them old people to tell
  • 00:39:55
    the young people how the things should
  • 00:39:57
    be done. So by reading Boaz um you know
  • 00:39:59
    you find out a lot. Boaz either
  • 00:40:02
    overestimated the likelihood of all
  • 00:40:04
    cultural knowledge disappearing or he
  • 00:40:06
    underestimated the quake. People can
  • 00:40:09
    today go back to his films, written
  • 00:40:11
    works, and even the photographs he posed
  • 00:40:14
    for to find out aspects of their own
  • 00:40:16
    heritage that have been forgotten. But a
  • 00:40:18
    great deal of tradition has been handed
  • 00:40:20
    on from generation to generation in the
  • 00:40:22
    old way.
  • 00:40:34
    I
  • 00:40:37
    love
  • 00:40:45
    I
  • 00:40:48
    am I
  • 00:41:08
    You call it the
  • 00:41:10
    hamata for memorial pages and for
  • 00:41:15
    ordinary page if you're you know showing
  • 00:41:17
    your chieftainship. ship, how how much
  • 00:41:20
    wealth you got and stuff like
  • 00:41:22
    that. I inherited mine from my
  • 00:41:26
    grandfather. My dad passed it on to
  • 00:41:29
    me and now I'll pass it on to my sons,
  • 00:41:32
    one of my oldest son. It's our culture
  • 00:41:35
    and it's uh we hate to lose it. During
  • 00:41:38
    his visits to Fort Roupert up on the
  • 00:41:40
    northern tip of Vancouver Island, Boaz
  • 00:41:43
    became aware of the importance of
  • 00:41:44
    language. In the beginning, it was
  • 00:41:47
    always hard work to ask about the
  • 00:41:49
    language. Such a confusion of dialects
  • 00:41:52
    and languages exist here that the
  • 00:41:54
    material overwhelms me. The quagutal
  • 00:41:57
    language is much harder than I thought.
  • 00:41:59
    I work on the grammar in the mornings,
  • 00:42:02
    and in the afternoon, old fellas tell me
  • 00:42:04
    stories, and in the evening, when George
  • 00:42:06
    Hunt is free, I revise texts with him.
  • 00:42:10
    But Boaz realized that language was more
  • 00:42:12
    than simply a means for making yourself
  • 00:42:15
    understood. He was becoming aware of the
  • 00:42:17
    role of language as a vehicle for
  • 00:42:19
    transmitting cultural identity itself.
  • 00:42:23
    The old people remember Bo speaking
  • 00:42:25
    Quaquala well, but with a heavy accent.
  • 00:42:28
    He understood that as well as customs
  • 00:42:30
    and objects, language was also part of
  • 00:42:34
    the essence of the life of a culture.
  • 00:42:36
    Mhm.
  • 00:42:38
    Okay. We wish
  • 00:42:41
    you
  • 00:42:46
    hair. Mhm.
  • 00:42:50
    His hair
  • 00:42:57
    face
  • 00:43:02
    eyebrows.
  • 00:43:05
    It's for you.
  • 00:43:08
    today. Although it isn't the first
  • 00:43:10
    language of most Quaky children, it is
  • 00:43:12
    at least being taught. And Boaz himself
  • 00:43:15
    was teaching that language, like each
  • 00:43:18
    aspect of the culture being studied, was
  • 00:43:20
    an essential part in the understanding
  • 00:43:22
    of social worlds that were so
  • 00:43:23
    dramatically different from his
  • 00:43:29
    own.
  • 00:43:44
    His students were encouraged to see
  • 00:43:47
    their own society in the context of a
  • 00:43:49
    much wider range of possible social
  • 00:43:52
    worlds.
  • 00:43:57
    In the United States of the early 1900s,
  • 00:44:00
    this wasn't just a subject of academic
  • 00:44:02
    interest, for people of very different
  • 00:44:03
    ethnic backgrounds were arriving in vast
  • 00:44:06
    numbers. But these immigrants didn't
  • 00:44:08
    only provide justification for cultural
  • 00:44:10
    anthropology to be taught at university.
  • 00:44:13
    For Boaz, they were ideal material for
  • 00:44:15
    another of his interests, the biological
  • 00:44:18
    aspect of human beings, what their
  • 00:44:20
    physical characteristics were like,
  • 00:44:22
    their shape, size, color, growth, and so
  • 00:44:25
    on. He was interested in the way these
  • 00:44:28
    features changed as different
  • 00:44:29
    populations intermarried. Among other
  • 00:44:32
    things, he wanted to see in what way
  • 00:44:34
    environment influenced this process. And
  • 00:44:37
    in New York, there was a laboratory for
  • 00:44:39
    investigation on his
  • 00:44:43
    doorstep. This is the Great Hall on
  • 00:44:45
    Ellis Island. Something like 16 million
  • 00:44:48
    immigrants at the beginning of this
  • 00:44:50
    century. It was the legal gateway to a
  • 00:44:52
    new life in America.
  • 00:44:55
    They came in their hundreds every day to
  • 00:44:57
    this island and sat and waited to be
  • 00:45:00
    processed in this hall. They had to
  • 00:45:02
    answer in English where they came from,
  • 00:45:04
    how old they were, whether they had any
  • 00:45:06
    serious diseases, how much money they
  • 00:45:09
    had, whether they had new jobs to go to,
  • 00:45:12
    whether they were prostitutes, whether
  • 00:45:14
    they were
  • 00:45:15
    anarchists. In 1908, they were asked
  • 00:45:18
    another question depending on whether
  • 00:45:20
    they came from Europe or not. That was
  • 00:45:22
    whether they minded if someone took some
  • 00:45:24
    measurements of their bodies and
  • 00:45:31
    heads. France Boaz was working for the
  • 00:45:34
    United States Immigration Commission set
  • 00:45:36
    up to report as to whether peoples from
  • 00:45:39
    certain countries in Europe should be
  • 00:45:41
    allowed into America. Were they or were
  • 00:45:44
    they not racially inferior?
  • 00:45:47
    It may have been a strange beginning to
  • 00:45:48
    life in America, but Boaz's findings
  • 00:45:51
    were an important development in the
  • 00:45:53
    heated argument going on as to whether
  • 00:45:55
    your racial characteristics placed
  • 00:45:57
    limitations on your human potential.
  • 00:46:01
    Eugenics was very much in the air.
  • 00:46:03
    There's a good deal of discussion about
  • 00:46:07
    uh which races were superior and which
  • 00:46:10
    were
  • 00:46:11
    inferior. and uh
  • 00:46:15
    the concern about not letting the
  • 00:46:19
    national populations not only in this
  • 00:46:21
    country but in England and and in in
  • 00:46:24
    Europe deteriorate with inferior races
  • 00:46:27
    but to keep the standard up and to
  • 00:46:31
    improve it and they had ideas about
  • 00:46:34
    certain races being superior to other
  • 00:46:36
    races. So that kind of eugenics approach
  • 00:46:40
    with a racist overtone uh was very
  • 00:46:43
    widespread in the
  • 00:46:46
    1910s 1920s. There was a eugenic society
  • 00:46:50
    in this country that was very active and
  • 00:46:52
    had a number of rather well-known people
  • 00:46:54
    who were associated with it.
  • 00:46:57
    There was an underground feeling that
  • 00:47:00
    almost anyone who wasn't Anglo-Saxon was
  • 00:47:03
    less than
  • 00:47:04
    desirable and among the non-
  • 00:47:07
    Anglo-Saxons were of course the Jews.
  • 00:47:10
    But being a Jew, naturally he was very
  • 00:47:12
    sensitive to any anti-Semitic overtones.
  • 00:47:15
    Issues of race didn't of course only
  • 00:47:17
    apply to the various groups of white
  • 00:47:19
    Europeans trying to enter the states.
  • 00:47:22
    Since the abolition of slavery, the
  • 00:47:24
    prospects for blacks frustrated the
  • 00:47:26
    ideal that all men were created equal.
  • 00:47:29
    Boaz actively campaigned on behalf of
  • 00:47:32
    black people all over
  • 00:47:33
    America. Contrary to prevailing notions
  • 00:47:36
    of the day, he stated that there was no
  • 00:47:38
    evidence that they were racially
  • 00:47:43
    inferior. The findings that he'd
  • 00:47:45
    reported from Ellis Island challenged
  • 00:47:47
    the concept that certain racial
  • 00:47:49
    characteristics were fixed or stable.
  • 00:47:52
    His were views that white America found
  • 00:47:55
    almost totally incomprehensible and in
  • 00:47:58
    some quarters they are still unaccepted
  • 00:48:02
    today.
  • 00:48:05
    Boaz introduced a new way of looking at
  • 00:48:09
    race.
  • 00:48:11
    Boaz was the first
  • 00:48:14
    distinguished white social scientist in
  • 00:48:17
    the United
  • 00:48:18
    States who minimized the importance of
  • 00:48:22
    race as a determinant of human behavior.
  • 00:48:28
    Boaz took a deliberate and bold social
  • 00:48:31
    stance and agitated for a more tolerant
  • 00:48:34
    and informed approach to questions of
  • 00:48:36
    racial difference.
  • 00:48:38
    He even did one thing that's very very
  • 00:48:40
    little
  • 00:48:41
    known but I think is extraordinarily
  • 00:48:44
    interesting. One of the things he asked
  • 00:48:46
    his fieldworkers to do and they were a
  • 00:48:48
    brilliant group of men that he chose was
  • 00:48:51
    to make life masks of the people they
  • 00:48:54
    were working
  • 00:48:56
    with. the the fieldwork spread from the
  • 00:48:59
    northwest coast up the the borderline to
  • 00:49:04
    Alaska over into Asia and even some
  • 00:49:08
    studies as far south as
  • 00:49:10
    China. It's a fantastic collection. Many
  • 00:49:13
    of these people have now become
  • 00:49:17
    extinct and we have the only absolute
  • 00:49:20
    representation of these people in the
  • 00:49:23
    whole facial features. We have I don't
  • 00:49:26
    know at least uh maybe as many as 2,000.
  • 00:49:35
    Boaz's work on the physical
  • 00:49:37
    characteristics of humans convinced him
  • 00:49:39
    that race itself was an awkward
  • 00:49:41
    category. Because it was impossible to
  • 00:49:44
    define, it was of no real scientific
  • 00:49:46
    use. Biological differences between
  • 00:49:49
    races are small. There is no reason to
  • 00:49:53
    believe that one race is in nature so
  • 00:49:55
    much more intelligent and endowed with
  • 00:49:58
    greater willpower, nor emotionally more
  • 00:50:00
    stable than another.
  • 00:50:05
    France Boaz taught at Columbia
  • 00:50:07
    University for half a century. The list
  • 00:50:10
    of his students who went on to set up
  • 00:50:12
    and teach the subject along his lines at
  • 00:50:15
    other universities reads like the who's
  • 00:50:17
    who of American
  • 00:50:19
    anthropology. By the time of his death,
  • 00:50:21
    he was rightly regarded by scholars from
  • 00:50:23
    all over the world as the founding
  • 00:50:26
    father of American anthropology.
  • 00:50:29
    I can still remember quite vividly what
  • 00:50:32
    happened. And on that day, December
  • 00:50:35
    21st,
  • 00:50:38
    1942, Boas invited a few person to a
  • 00:50:41
    lunchon with Rebe at the faculty club at
  • 00:50:46
    Colombia
  • 00:50:48
    University. It was an extremely cold
  • 00:50:50
    day, as a matter of fact, one of the
  • 00:50:53
    coldest day I can remember. and Bas
  • 00:50:56
    arrived early from his home, his grand
  • 00:51:00
    hood on the other side of the
  • 00:51:02
    Hudson. Uh he was wearing I
  • 00:51:06
    remember a very dilapidated and
  • 00:51:09
    discolored fur cap which probably dated
  • 00:51:14
    back to his time with the Eskimo 50
  • 00:51:16
    years earlier. Bas was in a very in very
  • 00:51:20
    high spirits and lunchon started quite
  • 00:51:25
    gilly and then all of a sudden Bas was
  • 00:51:31
    struck by something like an electric
  • 00:51:34
    shock.
  • 00:51:35
    He pushed violently and fell backward on
  • 00:51:40
    the ground with his chair. And I was
  • 00:51:43
    seated by his side. And immediately I
  • 00:51:46
    tried to help him, but he was dead. And
  • 00:51:53
    we all left struck with
  • 00:51:57
    sorrow and with the feeling that we had
  • 00:52:01
    the sad privilege to witness the passing
  • 00:52:05
    out of one of the very last intellectual
  • 00:52:12
    giants such as the 19th century was able
  • 00:52:17
    to produce
  • 00:52:19
    and whom probably uh will not be
  • 00:52:23
    produced anymore. His last words at that
  • 00:52:26
    supper were that he had a new idea on
  • 00:52:28
    race. His audience never heard what that
  • 00:52:30
    new idea was. In his long and productive
  • 00:52:33
    career, however, France Boaz produced a
  • 00:52:36
    series of new ideas that changed the way
  • 00:52:38
    that educated Americans thought about
  • 00:52:41
    race, language, and culture.
  • 00:52:44
    The value of anthropology is its power
  • 00:52:47
    to impress us with the relative value of
  • 00:52:50
    all forms of culture. For we are only
  • 00:52:53
    too liable to consider our civilization
  • 00:52:55
    the ultimate goal of human evolution,
  • 00:52:58
    thus depriving ourselves of the benefits
  • 00:53:00
    to be gained from the teachings of
  • 00:53:01
    others. My whole outlook upon life is
  • 00:53:04
    determined by one question. How can we
  • 00:53:07
    recognize the shackles that tradition
  • 00:53:09
    has laid upon us? For when we recognize
  • 00:53:12
    them, we are also able to break them.
الوسوم
  • Franz Boas
  • Antropologia
  • Cultura Inuit
  • Estudo de Cultura
  • Identidade Cultural
  • Preservação Cultural
  • Relação com o Ambiente
  • Etnografia
  • Relatividade Cultural
  • Raça e Cultura