Lowie, Robert H. (1883-1957)
Robert Harry Lowie (1883-1957), born in Vienna to a German-speaking Jewish family, was a disciple of Franz Boas and a major representative of North American culturalism. From 1907 onwards, he carried out salvage ethnography on Plains Indian reserves, particularly those of the Crow, one of his major life subjects. He was curator of the American Museum of Natural History, and later became professor at the University of Berkeley, California, and president of the American Anthropological Association in 1935. His extensive bibliography includes works such as Primitive Society (1920) and Primitive Religion (1924), which contributed to delivering the death blow to evolutionary ideas.
Keywords: Cultural anthropology | Culturalism | Salvage ethnography | Teacher | 20th century | Germany | Austria | United States of America | Great Plains | Amerindian studies | Americanism | Crow | Religion | Cultural history | Concept of culture | Cultural diffusion | Cultural relativism | Franz Boas | American Museum of Natural History | American Anthropological Association
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“Mainstream or Marginal Boasian? An Intellectual Biography of Robert H. Lowie”
Sergei Kan, 2019
Why did Robert Lowie (1883-1957), considered a “mainstream Boasian” by both his colleagues and most historians of anthropology, felt somewhat underappreciated by Franz Boas himself and especially by Lowie’s peers: Alexander Goldenweiser (1880-1940), Edward Sapir (1884-1939), and Paul Radin (...)
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« Un Boasien marginal ? Biographie intellectuelle de Robert H. Lowie »
Sergei Kan, 2019
Pourquoi Robert Lowie (1883-1957), pourtant considéré par ses collègues et par la plupart des historiens de l’anthropologie comme un « boasien parmi les autres », s’est-il senti quelque peu sous-estimé par Franz Boas lui-même et surtout par ses pairs : Alexander Goldenweiser (1880-1940), (...)
Secondary sources
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Robert Harry Lowie. A Biographical Memoir
Julian H. Steward, 1974
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“The Falling-Out between Alexander Goldenweiser and Robert Lowie: Two Personalities, Two Visions of Anthropology”
Sergei Kan, 2015
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“Anthropology at War : Robert H. Lowie and the Transformation of the Culture Concept, 1904 to 1954”
Stefan Bargheer, 2017
Primary sources
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”Ceremonialism in North America”
Robert H. Lowie, 1915
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Culture And Ethnology
Robert H. Lowie, 1917
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Primitive Society
Robert H. Lowie, 1920
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The Religion of the Crow Indians
Robert H. Lowie, 1922
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“Takes-the-pipe, a Crow Warrior” [...]
Robert H. Lowie, 1925
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Primitive Religion
Robert H. Lowie, 1936
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An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Robert H. Lowie, 1947
Notes and research instruments
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“Finding Aid to the Robert Harry Lowie Papers, 1872-1968”
Marie E. Byrne & Lauren L. Lassleben, 1997
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