Re: Boas' informants

In article <mn.65397d6ca15b79f2.66339@xxxxxxxxx>, noone@xxxxxxxxx
says...
Mujin presented the following explanation :
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umwinkl0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
In article <RPmeh.9605$xC4.1110@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, noone@yahoo.
com says...
Does anyone have a reference where I can find Boas's concept
of the ideal informant for ethnographic researchers?

This is kind of a vague question. Can you expand? I'm not sure
what you mean by "ideal informant" - surely "informed native"
encapsulates it, but that's hardly anything unique to Boas. Were
you looking for something in particular?



To expand, the main difference between Boas and other ethnographers
of the period was that Boas took an approach to ethnography that was
rather like natural history. That is, he travelled to the community
to observe, and he spoke to as many individuals as possible.
Previously, the pattern was to rely on accounts of European
travellers or intensive interviews with one or two "natives" from
the community. So in a sense Boas's "ideal informant" was "as many
as possible."

Anyway, I looked on my office shelf this morning and found a few
articles you might find useful. A quick web search shows them
available online, though they should be available in your library
anyway. You can always ask for document delivery if not. If these
papers aren't what you're looking for, I'm sure there's something in
the bibliographies that will be of use to you!

Briggs, C & R.Baumann (1999) "The Foundation of All Future
Researches: Franz Boas, George Hunt, Native American Texts, and the
Construction of Modernity" American Quarterly 51.3 479-528
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_quarterly/v051/51.3briggs.html

Urry, James (1972) "Notes and Queries on Anthropology and the
Development of Field Methods in British Anthropology, 1870-1920"
Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain
and Ireland, No. 1972, pp. 45-57.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4169%281972%290%3A1972%3C45%3A
%22AQOAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
(watch the wrap)

I thought this next one was quite an interesting article, though a
little far from my own theoretical standpoint, and it discusses the
way Boas went about things in some detail:

Bunzl, M (2004) "Boas, Foucault and the Native Anthropologist: Notes
towards a Neo-Boasian Anthropology" American Anthropologist
106(3)435-442
http://www.anthro.uci.edu/html/CTE260/Bunzl.pdf

I know the first article (excellent), but not the latter two.
Thanks for the citations!

To clarify, I wondered if there was a particular type of native
person Boas thought was most useful. Underhill talks about finding
an average or at least not exceptional person in her Papago Woman.
I wondered if Boas taught her that a sort of average native person
was ideal.

I couldn't say for certain, but I think the place to look would be
in some of Boaz's early ethnography. Since, like Malinowski, he was
working toward a better method than reading the memoirs of colonial
administrators, I would expect that (also like Malinowski) he would
expound on his method and his reasons for thinking it was
more "scientific" than others.

However, since Boaz's philosophy for ethnography was founded in the
principles of naturalism at the time I would think that his way of
selecting informants was probably something like opportunistic
specimen sampling. Since this was de rigeur in naturalism (the
biological kind, not the naked kind) he may not have found it
necessary to discuss it in detail.

A good place to start looking for this sort of thing would be to do
a search for articles and books on "ethnographic method" and narrow
for citations of Boaz's early works.

You might also look for one of several excellent books of annotated
bibliographies. One that is considered good is:
Anthropological fieldwork: an annotated bibliography (1988)

The call number is GN346 .G73 1988 by Library of Congress standard.
Your library probably has this one or one of several more general
compilations.

Thanks again.

S.



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Boas informants
    ... I'm not sure what you mean by "ideal informant" - surely "informed native" encapsulates it, but that's hardly anything unique to Boas. ... the main difference between Boas and other ethnographers of the period was that Boas took an approach to ethnography that was rather like natural history. ... the pattern was to rely on accounts of European travellers or intensive interviews with one or two "natives" from the community. ... Urry, James "Notes and Queries on Anthropology and the Development of Field Methods in British Anthropology, 1870-1920" Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 1972, pp. 45-57. ...
    (sci.anthropology)
  • Re: Boas informants
    ... To expand, the main difference between Boas and other ethnographers ... Development of Field Methods in British Anthropology, ...
    (sci.anthropology)