Boasians at War Anthropology, Race, and World War II

This volume seeks to recover a specific historical moment within the tradition of anthropologists trained in the United States under Franz Boas, arguably the father of modern American anthropology. Focusing on Boasians Ashley Montagu, Margaret Mead, Melville Herskovits, and Ruth Benedict, Anthony Hazard highlights the extent to which the Boasians offer historicized explanations of racism that move beyond a quest to reshape only the discipline: Boasian war work pointed to the histories of chattel slavery and colonialism to theorize not just race, but the emergence of racism as both systemic and interpersonal. The realities of race that continue to plague the United States have direct ties to the anthropological work of the figures examined here, particularly within the context of the 20^th-century black freedom struggle. Ultimately, Boasians at War offers a detailed glimpse of the long troubled history of the concept of race, along with the real-life realities of racism, that have carried on despite the harnessing of scientific knowledge to combat both. 

Chapter1: Papa Franz

Chapter 2: Ashley Montagu, the Negro Question, and the Myth of Race

Chapter 3: Mead, an ‘Old American’                     

Chapter 4: Herskovits on the Negro Past and Present

Chapter 5: Benedict at a Distance and at Home

 

Anthony Hazard, Jr. is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies & History at Santa Clara University, USA.