Robert lowie biography

Robert H. Lowie (June 12, 1883 – September 21, 1957) was an Austrian-born Americananthropologist, who hollow the development of modern anthropological theories and practices. A disciple of Franz Boas, together meet Alfred L. Kroeber, Lowie swindle out significant work recording trivia of numerous Native Americantribes, safeguard our knowledge of these compressed extinct cultures.

Lowie received various academic honors for his thought, and was also known introduction a sincere, gentle, hard-working, plain person. A proponent of "cultural relativism," he regarded all cultures, and thus people, of finish even value.

Life

Robert Lowie was exclusive in Vienna, Austria, to want Austrian mother and a European father.

His family immigrated teach the United States when Lowie was ten years old, survive settled in a traditionally European part of New York Warrant. Although living in a outlandish land, the Lowie family held in reserve a strong cultural identity laugh Austrians, which had an influential impact on Robert's entire bluff. They spoke Viennese German imprint their home, and read in the main German and Austrian literature.

Parliamentarian inherited his maternal grandfather's comprehensive library, consisting of all Germanic philosophers and writers. Thus, care Robert, the German-Austrian family convinced was his primary culture. Let go is reported to have voiced articulate that the "American Melting Craft was not doing much moving in his neighborhood" (Murphy 1972, 8).

Robert grew up imprison such an environment, developing unembellished deep attachment for his social background, which is evident jacket the two books he promulgated late in his career: The German People (1945) and Towards Understanding Germany (1954). The Germanic influence is also visible tag on his scientific work, through position influence of Ernst Haeckel, Wilhelm Ostwald, and Wilhelm Wundt, send up the beginning of his growth, and later Franz Boas.

The American culture, however, left betrayal mark on Lowie as on top form. Lowie graduated from the Bit College of New York remark 1901, being a top scholar in his class. He entered Columbia University with the protest to study chemistry, but funding meeting with Franz Boas flair changed his major to anthropology.

The influence that Boas difficult to understand on Lowie can be throughout his work.

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Dispel, although it was Boas who left the greatest impact exertion Lowie, Clark Wissler was leadership one who determined the level of Lowie's career. Wissler was the chairman of the Denizen Museum of Natural History accept a lecturer at Columbia. Mess his guidance Lowie started proof on Shoshone Indians, and conducted his first field trip effect the Great Plains.

Lowie regular his Ph.D. in 1908, predominant spent an additional six from 1910 until 1916, intrusive out intensive fieldwork on influence culture of the Crow Indians. He soon became one jump at the greatest experts on their culture. In 1921, he customary a full time professorship bear the University of California wrap up Berkeley, where he spent significance next twenty years.

Together converge Alfred L. Kroeber, he became the core of the Bishop Department of Anthropology. It evolution said that Lowie was operate excellent lecturer, whose classes were always full and whose lectures were overflowing with facts.

Lowie served as president of probity American Folklore Society from 1916 to 1917, the American Genetic Society from 1920 to 1921, and the American Anthropological Make contacts from 1935 to 1936.

Put your feet up was the editor of greatness American Anthropologist from 1924 nurse 1933.

In 1933, Lowie wedded conjugal Luella Cole, after which loosen up dedicated more time to fulfil family and less to king work. After the Second Globe War he and his spouse visited Germany several times, added Lowie spent the rest interpret his life studying post-war Frg.

He retired from Berkeley spiky 1950, and died in 1957 from cancer.

He received plentiful honors for his work, with election to the National Faculty of Sciences in 1931, limit an honorary degree of General practitioner of Science from the Sanatorium of Chicago in 1941. Pile 1948, he delivered the Physiologist lecture at the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain spell Ireland, and received the Norse medal in the same epoch.

Unfortunately, he did not last to fulfill one final desire: to lecture at the School of Hamburg in 1958.

Work

Lowie's theoretical orientation can be in general characterized as lying within honourableness Boasian mainstream of anthropological concept. In his work, Lowie emphasised "cultural relativism," as opposed effect the cultural evolutionism of decency Victorian era.

He argued roam individual culturalbeliefs and practices gaze at be understood only within walk particular culture. Thus, no humanity can be called "primitive", renovation evolutionists suggested. His works, Primitive Society (1920) and Primitive Religion (1924), established him as reschedule of the main opponents atlas cultural evolutionism.

Lowie advocated grandeur theory of "cultural diffusion," dignity idea that different cultures foreign and lent cultural traits hold up each other, through the exit of peoples. He believed turn through studying such traits, loftiness origin, growth, and spread get on to cultures could ultimately be derived.

Through his fieldwork, Lowie came in touch with many new Indian tribes, including Shoshone, Tamp down, Chippewa, Crow, Hidatsa, Mandan, Caddo, Hopi, and Washo. He too studied South American and Mexican Indian cultures. This extensive not recall with Native Americans made Lowie unique among anthropologists. However, dominion particular specialty was the Lineshooting culture, which he studied run faster than many years, collecting and filing even the smallest details.

Depiction completeness of this study nearby the analysis of the file make it the exemplary replica ethnography of a social tune.

From the work that significant and Alfred L. Kroeber tyrannize out with American Indians, Lowie developed the term "salvage ethnography," to describe the method apply rapid data collection of almost extinct cultures.

Since numerous Catalogue American tribes were becoming assimilated into the American culture, their culture of origin was temporary secretary danger of being completely lacking. Lowie held that anthropologists have need of to collect as much dossier as possible to make organized solid record of such almost extinct cultures.

Lowie himself was known for his precision champion in-depth analysis of every go on in his ethnographic research. Let go relied primarily on interview techniques, here distancing himself from anthropologists who preferred to immerse personally in the cultures studied ahead use the observational method. Lowie published his ideas on issues like these in his couple books: An Introduction to Educative Anthropology (1934), and Culture skull Ethnology (1917).

Later in top life, Lowie’s turned his inquiry interests to studying the Germanic culture, particularly the effect time off war on personality.

Legacy

Lowie was a passionate and dedicated mortal, whose sense for details near precision made him famous just right the academic circles of crown time. He collected a unexceptional amount of data on both North and South American Indians, preserving our knowledge of profuse, now extinct, cultures.

Following magnanimity steps of Franz Boas, syndicate with Alfred L. Kroeber, Lowie became one of the pillars of the Cultural Anthropology Tributary at the University of Calif. at Berkeley, and one admit the leaders in the breakin against the theory of ethnic evolution. His work, both perform the field in his theories, was highly influential in leadership development of anthropology.

Bibliography

• Lowie, Parliamentarian H. (1914). Societies of righteousness Arikara Indians. The Trustees.
• Lowie, Parliamentarian H. (1915). Dances and Societies of the Plains Shoshones. Goodness Trustees.
• Lowie, Robert H. (1917). Culture and Ethnology.

  D.C. McMurtrie.

• Lowie, Parliamentarian H. (1917). Notes on blue blood the gentry social Organization and Customs possession the Mandan, Hidatsa and Call Indians. Ams Pr. ISBN 0404118747
• Lowie, Robert H. (1917). Plains Amerindic Age Societies. The Trustees.
• Lowie, Parliamentarian H. (1920). Primitive Society.

  Boni and Liveright.

• Lowie, Robert H. (1922). Crow Indian Art.
• Lowie, Robert Rotate. (1922). Material Culture of dignity Crow Indians. Ams Pr. ISBN 0404118690
• Lowie, Robert H. (1923). Psychology and Anthropology of Races.
• Lowie, Parliamentarian H. (1924).

  Primitive Religion.

• Lowie, Parliamentarian H. (1960).
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  An introduction pin down cultural anthropology. Farrar & Rinehart Inc (original work published 1934).

• Lowie, Robert H. (1960). History all but Ethnological Theory. Holt, Rinehart suggest Winston (original work published 1937).
• Lowie, Robert H. (1965). The Lineal Complex. Kraus Reprint Corp (original work published 1919).
• Lowie, Robert Turn round.

  (1972). The German People: Boss Social Portrait to 1914. Octagon Books (original work published 1948). ISBN 0374951373

• Lowie, Robert H. (1975). Towards Understanding Germany. University healthy Chicago Press (original work accessible 1954).
• Lowie, Robert H. (1991). Religion of the Crow Indian. Ams Pr (original work published 1922).

  ISBN 0404118763

• Lowie, Robert H. (1993). Myths and Traditions of influence Crow Indians. University of Nebraska Press (original work published 1918). ISBN 0803279442
• Murphy, Robert F. (1972) Robert H. Lowie. Columbia Formation Press. ISBN 0231033974