Franz Boas and Historical Particularism: UPSC Anthropology Notes & 15-Marker Model Answer
1. Introduction: Franz Boas and the Genesis of American Anthropology Franz Boas (1858–1942) , universally recognized as the "Father of American Anthropology" , initiated a massive methodological and epistemological revolution in anthropological thought during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Disillusioned by the speculative, ethnocentric, and armchair theorizing of 19th-century Classical Unilineal Evolutionists (such as E.B. Tylor , Lewis Henry Morgan , and Herbert Spencer ), Boas introduced rigorous empirical inductive methodology, intensive participant fieldwork, and cultural relativism. His school of thought, termed Historical Particularism (or the Boasian School ), posits that every human culture possesses its own unique, particular historical trajectory shaped by specific environmental, psychological, and historical factors (internal innovation and external diffusion). Within the UPSC Anthropology Optional Syllabus (Paper 1, Unit 6 - Anthropological Theories) ...
