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The Franz Boas enigma : Inuit, Arctic, and sciences PDF

188 Pages·2014·3.669 MB·English
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“Ludger Müller-Wille has restored a profoundly important chapter of L u d Boas’s life and allows Boas to speak again through his German-language g e publications.” Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt, coauthor, Franz Boas and r M W. E. B. Du Bois at Atlanta University, 1906. ü lle r - How did Franz Boas become the central founder of anthropology and W i a driving force promoting science in public life in North America? To lle answer this question, linguistic and cultural barriers must be overcome to grasp the importance of Boas’s personal background and academic achievements as a German Jew. Müller-Wille asserts that the key is in his publications in German on Inuit and the Arctic as related to environ- mental, geographical, and ethnological questions. These writings have remained largely unknown and neglected in the English-speaking world, yet they represent his emerging scientific interpretations of Inuit culture The Franz Boas Enigma and the Arctic. They also provide insight into the crucial period of Inuit history 130 years ago at a time of European and North American colonial Ludger Müller-Wille expansion into their homeland. T h “And what I want, what I will live and die for, is equal rights e for all, equal opportunities to work and strive for poor and rich! F r Don’t you think that when one has done even a little toward this, a n this is more than the whole of science together?” z B Franz Boas, Baffin Land, 22 January 1884 o a s E Ludger Müller-Wille is a Montreal anthropologist and geographer who taught n at McGill University for thirty years. Author and editor of books and articles on i g Franz Boas, he has conducted extensive research in the Arctic and Subarctic among m Sámi and Finns in Finland and Inuit, Dene, and Naskapi in Canada. a Foreword by Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt $24.95 isbn 978-1-77186-001-7 www.barakabooks.com Franz.couv.1.indd 1 2014-01-27 12:19 Fig. 1. Franz Boas, New York City, circa 1910 (American Philosophical Society) Franz Boas.indd 2 2014-01-30 10:27 The Franz Boas enigma Franz Boas.indd 3 2014-01-30 10:27 Franz Boas.indd 4 2014-01-30 10:27 Ludger Müller-Wille The Franz Boas enigma Inuit, Arctic, and Sciences Foreword by Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt Montréal Franz Boas.indd 5 2014-01-30 10:27 Copyright © Baraka Books 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. iSBn 978-1-77186-001-7 pbk; 978177186-014-7 epub; 978177186-015-4 pdf; 978177186-016-1 mobi/kindle Legal Deposit, 1st quarter 2014 Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec Library and Archives Canada Published by Baraka Books of Montreal. 6977, rue Lacroix Montréal, Québec h4e 2V4 Telephone: 514 808-8504 [email protected] www.barakabooks.com Printed and bound in Québec Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Müller-Wille, Ludger, 1944-, author The Franz Boas enigma : Inuit, Arctic, and sciences / Ludger Müller-Wille; foreword by Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. iSBn 978-1-77186-001-7 (pbk.).—iSBn 978-1-77186-014-7 (epub).—iSBn 978-1-77186-015-4 (pdf).—iSBn 978-1-77186-016-1 (mobi) 1. Boas, Franz, 1858-1942—Knowledge—Arctic regions.  2. Boas, Franz, 1858-1942— Knowledge—Inuit.  3. Anthropologists—Germany—Biography.  4. Anthropologists— United States—Biography.  I. Title. gn21.B56m85 2014                     301.092                    C2014-900088-X                                                                                       C2014-900089-8 Baraka Books acknowledges the generous support of its publishing program from the Société de développement des entreprises cul- turelles du Québec (SODEC) and the Canada Council for the Arts. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the National Translation Program for Book Publishing for our translation activities and through the Canada Black Black Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities. Trade Distribution & Returns Canada and the United States Independent Publishers Group CMYK 1CM-Y8K00-888-4741 (IPG1); [email protected] Pantone Pantone Franz Boas.indd 6 2014-01-30 10:27 Table of Contents List of Figures 9 Abbreviations and Author’s Note 13 Dedication 15 Foreword by Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt 17 Introduction: Franz Boas, Inuit, Arctic, and Sciences 23 1. “... the elementary relationship between land and people ...”: Geographical and Ethnological Paradigms 31 2. Early Geographical Studies, 1881-1883: Inuit Occupancy in the Arctic 47 3. Arctic Research and Publicity, 1883-1885: Articles in Germany and the United States 53 4. Life with Inuit and Whalers, 1883-1884: “I am now truly just like a typical Eskimo” 63 5. Pathways in Geography and Ethnology, 1884-1886: Inuit, Environment, and Beliefs 79 6. The American Period, September 1884 - March 1885: Searching for Scientific Grounding and Responses 83 Franz Boas.indd 7 2014-01-30 10:27 7. Return to Germany, March 1885 - July 1886: Seeking and Testing Academic Pursuits in Geography 89 8. Baffin-Land - Surveys and Inuit Place Names, 1885: Coping with Map Design and Language 97 9. Vagaries of Arctic Geography, 1886: Landscapes and Human Occupancy 105 10. Getting settled in the United States, 1886-1888: Ethnological and Geographical Writings 123 11. Inuit Tales and Lexicon, Arctic Ice and Climate, 1887-1894: Assessing Culture, Language, and Nature 127 12. Lasting Contributions by Franz Boas: Knowledge, Science, and Universality of Equality 137 Acknowledgements 145 List of People 149 Bibliography 157 Index 185 Franz Boas.indd 8 2014-01-30 10:27 List of Figures Fig. 1 Franz Boas, circa 1910 2 Fig. 2 Franz Boas demonstrates a seal hunt on the ice in a photo studio in Minden, 1885 18 Fig. 3 Franz Boas as a student in Kiel, Germany, circa 1880-1881 22 Fig. 4. The Boas Family in Minden, circa 1878-80 41 Fig. 5 Franz Boas and Marie Krackowizer in New York City, 1887 41 Fig. 6 Settlements and travel corridors of Inuit in Arctic America in the 1880s 50 Fig. 7 Franz Boas’s planned travel routes on Baffin Land, 1883 55 Fig. 8 Cuxhaven, last German harbour before sailing for Baffin Land, 1883 56 Fig. 9 Title page of the Berliner Tageblatt and a section of the article by Franz Boas, August 4, 1883 68 Fig. 10 Franz Boas (right) and a sailor on board the Germania off the coast of Baffin Land, August 6, 1883 69 Fig. 11 The German polar research station at Kingua, Cumberland Sound, 1882-1883 70 Fig. 12 Franz Boas’s journals – June 1883 to September 1884 – in the library of the American Philosophical Society 70 Franz Boas.indd 9 2014-01-30 10:27 10 the franz boas enigma Fig. 13 Franz Boas’s first survey map of the northern Region of Cumberland Sound with Inuit place names, September 6, 1883 71 Fig. 14 Travel routes of Franz Boas and Wilhelm Weike on Baffin Land, 1883-1884 72 Fig. 15 Northward view from the Scottish whaling station toward Kekerten Harbour, circa September 13-15, 1883 73 Fig. 16 Noon break at Ujarasugdjuling, Cumberland Sound, October 16, 1883 73 Fig. 17 Camp at Supivisortung, Cumberland Sound, October 1883 74 Fig. 18 Nachojaschi, Signa, and Utütiak landing Boas’s boat Marie through ice floes, Cumberland Sound, October 1883 74 Fig. 19 Wilhelm Weike poses with dog whip in a photo studio, Minden, Germany, circa 1885 75 Fig. 20 Franz Boas imitates seal hunting with a harpoon on the ice in a photo studio, Minden, Germany, 1885 76 Fig. 21 Mark Tungilik positioned to harpoon seal at the breathing hole on the ice at Naujaat/Repulse Bay, November, 1973 77 Fig. 22 Hunter, dog team, and igloo on a frozen fiord at Davis Strait, Baffin Land, June 1884 78 Fig. 23 Visit to Professor Heinrich Kiepert - letter by Franz Boas to Marie Krackowizer, July 21, 1885 100 Fig. 24 Baffin-Land - the title page of Franz Boas’s first major German publication, 1885 106 Fig. 25 Map of Cumberland Sound and Cumberland Peninsula, 1883-1884 107 Fig. 26 Map of Baffin Land and the distribution of Inuit in the 1880s 108 Fig. 27 North side of Pangnirtung Fiord, Cumberland Sound, about seven km east into the fiord, October 1883 112 Franz Boas.indd 10 2014-01-30 10:27

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