The Franz Boas Papers, Volume 3
Paper Bridges Between Franz Boas and Russian Anthropology
Franz Boas author Alexander Pershai editor Laura Siragusa editor Dmitry V Arzyutov editor Sergei A Kan editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:University of Nebraska Press
Publishing:1st Jul '26
£96.00
This title is due to be published on 1st July, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Anthropology is inseparable from writing, whether in field diaries, letters, articles, or books. Among these writings, letters form paper bridges—holding a special place as material artifacts uniquely capable of building scholarly communities and sustaining relationships with field collaborators long after the fieldwork is completed.
The story of Franz Boas, one of the founders of American anthropology, can be imagined as a res publica literaria, a network that, like its Renaissance prototype, shaped the contours of transnational anthropology. This two-part volume chronicles more than forty years of Boas's collaborations and friendships with Russian and Soviet anthropologists, following a small group of anthropologists as they built the house of Arctic and Siberian anthropology. Through these letters, readers are introduced to a lesser-known aspect of Boas's political life and his ambition to redefine anthropology as a transnational discipline, one that transcended national borders and political obstacles. Through meticulously gathered correspondence from more than thirty archives in the United States, Russia, France, and Norway, The Franz Boas Papers, Volume 3 reveals an untold chapter in the history of anthropology.
"The research program that Franz Boas initiated for ethnographic research on the peoples of Siberia in the 1890s resulted in major contributions to anthropological knowledge as well as long lasting relationships between Boas and a small group of Russian scholars. The latter were caught between their science and the roiling politics of their homeland. The editors of The Franz Boas Papers, Volume 3 of have produced a painstaking, valuable, and remarkable volume containing letters and little-known publications that capture anthropological, political, and biographical aspects of this long and fruitful Republic of Letters."—Herbert S. Lewis, author of In Defense of Anthropology: An Investigation of the Critique of Anthropology
"Valdimir Bogoras, Lev Shternberg and Sarah Ratner Shternberg, Valdemar Jochelon and Dina Jochelson Brodsky, Berthold Laufer, and Gerald Fowke struggled against the forceful and shifting dominant political powers of Imperial Russia, China, and the United States. Three of them were familiar with Siberia from their time in exile. Together they all created the fields of Arctic and Siberian anthropology. For a Boas scholar, this work is the central publication that must be consulted for the impact of Boas on shaping and stimulating the intellectual engagement of international scholars."—Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt, author of Franz Boas: The Emergence of the Anthropologist
ISBN: 9781496238825
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
1064 pages