Melville J. Herskovits

Melville Jean Herskovits (born 10 September 1895 in Bellefontaine, Ohio; † February 25 1963 in Evanston, Illinois) was an American anthropologist.

Family

Melville Herskovits ' father Herman Herskovits, a merchant of clothing was, in 1872 immigrated from Austria - Hungary to the United States. His mother Henrietta Herskovits, nee Hart, was born in Germany and came to America around 1880. The family lived in Ohio until 1905 and then went to El Paso (Texas ). After the death of his mother in 1911, the father moved with his children to Erie (Pennsylvania).

On July 12, 1924 Melville Herskovits and Frances Shapiro were married in Paris. They knew each other from common studies at the New School for Social Research.

Life

In Erie Melville Herskovits attended the High School until 1912. In 1915 he began studying at the University of Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College. The First World War interrupted his studies, which he continued until 1919 at the University of Poitiers and then at the University of Chicago. From 1920 to 1923 studied the Herskovits Anthropology at Columbia University under Franz Boas, who holds a doctorate him. The title of his dissertation was The Cattle Complex in East Africa. Then Herskovits graduated from the New School for Social Research in Alexander Alexandrovich gold Weiser and Thorstein Veblen. He also met Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead and Elsie Clews Parsons know.

From 1923 to 1927 Melville Herskovits could operate anthropological studies of African Americans with a promotion of the National Research Council. At the same time, he taught at Columbia University and at Howard University. 1927 was the only anthropologist Herskovits first assistant professor of sociology at Northwestern University in Evanston (Illinois), Associate Professor in 1931 and Full Professor in 1935. In 1938 he became head of the newly established Faculty of Anthropology. In 1961 he was appointed Professor of African Studies, which was first established in the USA.

For the exploration of the African culture traveled Melville Herskovits - accompanied by his wife, Frances S. Herskovits and Morton Kahn - in the summer of 1928 to Dutch Guiana ( Suriname). The expedition was repeated in 1929. In his research area was followed by other expeditions:

Positions

Importantly for the development of studies on African-American culture, the Herskovits - Frazier debate was. Melville Herskovits emphasized in his book The Myth of the Negro Past ( 1941) the elements of West African cultural traditions in African-American life world, where he was based particularly on Caribbean and South American data. This was contradicted by E. Franklin Frazier, among others, who emphasized the cultural losses due to enslavement and the example of the white dominant culture in the United States.

Herskovits profiled itself as Kulturrelativist. He consistently called for tolerance towards other cultures and also talked about critics of the theory of cultural relativism. Herskovits emphasized the " dignity that belongs to all customs and cultures ". He also emphasizes the importance of cultural diversity forth ( Cultural Diversity ) by filing the following theses:

  • The individual realizes his personality as part of its culture, therefore, requires the respect for individual and respect for cultural differences. [ ... ]
  • Respect for cultural differences follows from the scientific fact that no method for qualitative assessment has yet been discovered of cultures. [ ... ]
  • Standards and values ​​from which they derive relative to the culture,. Therefore, will the attempt to formulate postulates that the beliefs or moral code comes only from a culture affect the feasibility of a human rights declaration to humanity as a whole.

Publications

  • The Cattle Complex in East Africa. Diss American Anthropologist 1926.
  • The American Negro. A Study in Racial Crossing. 1928.
  • Suriname Folk - lore. With Frances S. Herskovits. In 1936.
  • Rebel Destiny. Among the Bush Negroes of Dutch Guiana. With Frances S. Herskovits. , 1934.
  • Life in a Haitian Valley. New York 1937.
  • Dahomey. An Ancient West African Kingdom. 2 vols, New York, 1938.
  • The Economic Life of Primitive People. Knopf, New York 1940.
  • Acculturation in Seven Indian Tribes. With Ralph Linton. 1940.
  • The Myth of the Negro Past. Harper, New York 1941.
  • Trinidad Village. With Frances S. Herskovits. In 1947.
  • Man and his Works. The Science of Cultural Anthropology. Knopf, New York 1949.
  • Economic Anthropology. A Study in Comparative Economics. Knopf, New York 1952.
  • Cultural Anthropology. Knopf, New York 1955.
  • Dahomean narratives. A Cross-cultural narratives. With Frances S. Herskovits. Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1958.
  • The Human Factor in Changing Africa. Knopf, New York 1962.
  • The New World Negro. London, 1966.
  • Cultural Relativism. Perspectives in Cultural Pluralism. hg. by Frances Herskovits. New York, 1972.

Bibliography

  • An excellent online bibliography of the University of Neuchâtel:
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