Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
with the Eskimo in the Canadian Arctic, an experience that provided him an understanding
of the crucial role that culture plays in impacting biology and behavior, and not the other way
around (
Erickson, 2008
). Rather than being based on typology and biological determinism,
his thought system on human groups was geared instead toward investigating links between
environment, culture, and the resulting biological variation (
Erickson, 2008; Caspari, 2009
).
His experiences as an ethnographic fieldworker with different indigenous groups in Canada
solidified his view that race is not a causal factor of cultural traits
d
i.e., that racial traits (skin
color, head shape, etc.) do not cause or influence cultural features such as language (
Erickson,
2008
). Boas was an example of this: he was white, yet learned the language of the groups he
studied in Canada and whenever possible even partook in their culture (
Erickson, 2008
).
Boas' landmark publication in 1910, Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants,
5
proposed that the cranial index of the children of immigrants born in the United States
was different from the cranial index of their siblings born overseas.
6
His argument was
that this biological change was due to the differing environments of the United States and
the home countries of the immigrant parents. Perhaps nutrition had improved, or there
was increased access to medical care for expectant mothers, but whatever the reason, his
conclusions were evidence against biological determinist arguments. Even though Boas'
conclusions have recently been modified (
Sparks and Jantz, 2003; Jantz and Logan, 2010
),
his research was key in the early twentieth century towards undermining racial typologies
and demonstrating that biological deterministic thinking has no scientific basis (
Gravlee,
2003
). Further, his emphasis on the importance of testing hypotheses about human variation
rather than making broad assumptions about race is clear: “Nobody had tried to answer the
questions why certain measurements were taken, why they were considered significant, [or]
whether they were subject to other influences” (Boas, 1936; as quoted in
Montagu, 1964a
:16,
emphasis added).
Boas' influence on the field in terms of his perspectives on race (rejecting types and
embracing culture and environment as holding answers to human variation questions)
and his stress on the importance of bringing an overall, holistic anthropological viewpoint
to bear on problems in physical anthropology cannot be overstated (
Caspari, 2009
). In addi-
tion to being major professor of 20 students, many of whom went on to be influential in the
field themselves (
Erickson, 2008
), his position on the importance of culture and environment
in human variation research is the foundation for research questions today and it is clear that
this emphasis will continue to shape the future of the discipline. In addition, his stress on the
importance of metric traits to reveal secular change
7
d
how time brings about changes in
5
This publication was part of the Dillingham Commission, resulting in a 41-volume report on immigrant
assimilation in the United States. See
Lund (1994)
for more information.
6
At the time of Boas' publication, the United States was experiencing (and had been experiencing) an influx
of immigrants from European countries and others. As a result, “native” born Americans
d
those white
Americans already in the country for several generations
d
saw the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, and
others as different races from themselves. Immigrant groups with white skin did not start to be considered
socially white until the 1920s (
Jacobson, 1998
). Immigrant groups with non-white skin of course today
remain socially as non-white.
7
See discussion on secular change in Moore and Ross (Chapter 6); and McKeown and Schmidt (Chapter 12),
this volume.
