Indian Myths & Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America: A Translation of Franz Boas' 1895 Edition of Indianische Sagen Von Der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas

Franz Boas

Talonbooks, 2006 - Social Science - 702 pages

Franz Boas (1858-1942), geographer, linguist, physical anthropologist and ethnologist, is considered the father of modern North American anthropology.

The 1895 German publication of

Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas

gathered together in a single volume his earliest research in British Columbia, consisting of 250 B.C. First Nations myths and legends which had been previously serialized in German periodicals between 1891 and 1895.

In 1973, the B.C. Indian Language Project first commissioned this peer-reviewed translation from Dietrich Bertz of Victoria, who completed his revised draft in 1977, incorporating the introduction by Professor Claude Lévi-Strauss. Then began the Project's immense task of researching, footnoting and annotating the text, which was to continue intermittently for over twenty years.

This volume of First Nations myths and legends is an extraordinarily important document in the history of North American anthropology.

Contents

• Foreword Lavantpropos: 14
• Translators Note: 51
• Ntlakyapamuq Thompson: 81

About the author

Franz Boas greatly influenced American anthropology, particularly in his development of the theoretical framework known as cultural relativism, which argued against the evolutionary scale leading from savagery to Culture, laid out by his 19th-century predecessors. He believed that cultures (plural) are too complex to be evaluated according to the broad theorizing characteristic of evolutionary "laws" of developing culture (singular). Instead, Boas sought to understand the development of societies through their particular histories. As a student of Native American languages, Boas emphasized the importance of linguistic analysis from internal linguistic structure, and pointed out that language was a fundamental aspect of culture. Indian Myths & Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America, includes his earliest research in British Columbia concerning Indigenous myths and legends.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Indian Myths & Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America: A Translation of Franz Boas' 1895 Edition of Indianische Sagen Von Der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
• Author: Franz Boas
• Editors: Randy Bouchard, Dorothy I. D. Kennedy
• Translated by: Dietrich Bertz
• Edition: illustrated, revised, annotated
• Publisher: Talonbooks, 2006
• ISBN: 0889225532, 9780889225534
• Length: 702 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social; Social Science / Customs & Traditions; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / Native American Studies; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Canadian Studies; Social Science / Folklore & Mythology