Developing Themes/Threads/Anthropologists of ethnography

Developing Themes/Threads/Anthropologists of ethnography

1. First well respected ethnography was and has been extensively by Malinowski.

   • His work on the Trobrian island of PPnG
   • BUT... was he the first?
     • Gilbert Livingston Wilson (1869 – 1930)
       • An ethnographer and a Presbyterian minister, he and his brother recorded the lives of three Hidatsa family members; Buffalo Bird Woman, her brother Henry Wolf Chief, and her son Edward Goodbird. Wlison’s extensive and detailed writings remain an important source of information for historians and anthropologists, as well as the Hidatsa people.
     • one of the first
       • Shift from Wilson
         • Second after Wilson came Franz Uri Boas
           • (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American[3] anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". Studying in Germany, Boas was awarded a doctorate in 1881 in physics while also studying geography. He then participated in a geographical expedition to northern Canada where he became fascinated with the culture and language of the Baffin Island Inuit. He went on to do field work with the indigenous cultures and languages of the Pacific Northwest.
         • What did this shift mean...
           • The shift in anthropological attitudes from Wilson to Boas which meant for a more in depth look at the complexities of missionary ethnographies. In other words a more criticized look at the so-called Armchair anthropologist and its drawbacks. It wasn’t for a long time until this missionary viewpoint was challenged by those who decided to actually leave the armchair, immerse themselves in the field and interpret, not what the archives and previous missionaries had said but interpret what they saw according to their research and draw their own educated conclusions.
             • An additional influence on the hallmark that was the start of fieldwork at the time was by Alfred Cort Haddon
               • Trained in zoology, he the became interested in studies of human life and undertook further study in anthropology. He developed the department of anthropology at the University of Cambridge, teaching and leading research expeditions. He became famous for his study of life in the Torres Strait Islands, where he pioneered the use of film and introduced other methods that characterize modern ethnographic studies, including the use of genealogies, to understand social relationships in different cultures. An outstanding contribution that he made was to pioneer the use of recordings—sound to record music, cameras for still photographs, and cine-cameras which he used to record short films. His films remain as poignant views of the social life of these people. Through the use of technology in this way, people around the world can come to experience more closely the life of those in distant cultures.
                 • A prominent era for anthropology came preceding the 2nd world war whereby anthropologists exploded onto the scene more multi-sited ethnogrphy approaches.
                   • Then the work of Gillen and Spencer combined on the Aboriginals of Arunta observed ceremonies and traditions as members of the group and were afforded an inside opportunity to do some critical fieldwork. Unlike that of any armchair anthropologists before them had. This had a big effect on Malinowski’s work.

2. NB

   • Much of the information taken here on the Anthropologists have come from Wikipedia.
     • Specifically:Haddon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Cort_Haddon
       • Boas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Boas
         • Wilson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Livingston_Wilson