Melville J. Herskovits

Melville J. Herskovits
Melville J. Herskovits

Melville J. Herskovits
Born September 10, 1895
Bellefontaine, Ohio
Died February 25, 1963
Evanston, Illinois
Nationality United States
Fields Anthropologist
Known for African American studies

Melville Jean Herskovits (September 10, 1895 in Bellefontaine, Ohio - February 25, 1963 in Evanston, Illinois) was an American anthropologist who firmly established African and African American studies in American academia. The son of Jewish immigrants, he obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago in 1923 and obtained his Master's and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University in New York under the guidance of the German-born American anthropologist Franz Boas. His dissertation, titled "The Cattle Complex in East Africa", investigated theories of power and authority in the African region. He studied how some aspects of African culture and traditions were evident in African Americans in the 1900s. In 1927, Herskovits moved to Northwestern University as a full-time anthropologist and established the Department of Anthropology in 1938.

In 1934, Herskovits and his wife spent a little over three months in the Haitian village of Mirebalais, the findings of which research he published in his 1937 book Life in a Haitian Valley. In its time, Life in a Haitian Valley was considered on of the most accurate depictions of the Haitian practice of voodoo, meticulously detailing the lives and voodoo practices of the inhabitants of Mirebalais during Herskovits' three-month stay.

In 1948, he founded the first major interdisciplinary American program in African studies at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois with a three-year, $30,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation, followed by a five-year, $100,000 grant from the Ford Foundation in 1951. The Program of African Studies was the first of its kind at an American academic institution.[1] The goals of the program were to “produce scholars of competence in their respective subjects, who will focus the resources of their special fields on the study of aspects of African life relevant to their disciplines.” [2]

The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University, established in 1954, is the largest separate Africana collection in the world. To date, it contains more than 260,000 bound volumes, including 5,000 rare books, more than 3,000 periodicals, journals and newspapers, archival and manuscript collections, 15,000 books in 300 different African languages, extensive collections of maps, posters, videos and photographs, as well as electronic resources.[3] In 1957, Herskovits founded the African Studies Association and was the organization's first president.[4]

Herskovits's controversial classic The Myth of the Negro Past is about African cultural influences on American blacks. He rejected the notion that African Americans lost all traces of their past when they were taken from Africa and enslaved in America. Herskovits emphasized race as a sociological concept, not a biological one. He also helped forge the concept of cultural relativism, particularly in his book Man and His Works.

Melville Herskovits's position formed one half of the debate with Franklin Frazier on the nature of cultural contact in the Western Hemisphere, specifically with reference to Africans, Europeans, and their descendents.[5]

After World War II, Herskovits publicly advocated African independence and also attacked American politicians for viewing Africa as an object of Cold War strategy.

Contents

Works

  • The Cattle Complex in East Africa, PhD Dissertation, 1923
  • "The Negro's Americanism" in The New Negro, edited by Alain Locke, 1925
  • The American Negro, 1928
  • Rebel Destiny, Among the Bush Negroes of Dutch Guiana, 1934, with Frances Herskovits
  • Life in a Haitian Valley, 1937
  • Economic Life of Primitive People, 1940
  • The Myth of the Negro Past, 1941
  • Trinidad Village, 1947, with Frances Herskovits
  • Continuity and Change in African Culture, 1959
  • The Human Factor in Changing Africa, 1962
  • Economic Transition in Africa, 1964

Further reading

  • Alan P. Merriam, Melville Jean Herskovits, 1895-1963, American Anthropologist, Vol. 66, No. 1, 1964, p. 83-109.
  • Jerry Gershenhorn: Melville J. Herskovits and the Racial Politics of Knowledge (2004) (ISBN 0-8032-2187-8).

References

  1. ^ http://www.northwestern.edu/african-studies/studies_history.html
  2. ^ Herskovits, Melville J. Program of African Studies (draft and partial revisions). Melville J. Herskovits Papers, Northwestern University Archives. Evanston, Illinois. Box 142, Folder 23.
  3. ^ http://www.library.northwestern.edu/africana/about/facts.html
  4. ^ http://www.library.northwestern.edu/africana/about/herskovits.html
  5. ^ Peter Kolchin, "American Slavery", Penguin History, paperback edition, 40

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Melville J. Herskovits — Melville Jean Herskovits (* 10. September 1895 in Bellefontaine, Ohio; † 25. Februar 1963 in Evanston, Illinois) war ein US amerikanischer Anthropologe. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Familie 2 Leben 3 P …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Melville Jean Herskovits — (* 10. September 1895 in Bellefontaine, Ohio; † 25. Februar 1963 in Evanston, Illinois) war US amerikanischer Anthropologe. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Werk 2 Werke 3 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Herskovits — Melville Jean Herskovits (* 10. September 1895 in Bellefontaine, Ohio; † 25. Februar 1963 in Evanston, Illinois) war US amerikanischer Anthropologe. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Werk 2 Werke 3 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Melville Herskovits — Melville Jean Herskovits né le 10 septembre 1895 à Bellefontaine (Ohio, États Unis) mort le 25 février 1963 à Evanston (Illinois, États Unis) est un anthropologue américain. Sommaire 1 Publications 2 Voir aussi 2.1 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • HERSKOVITS (M. J.) — HERSKOVITS MELVILLE JEAN (1895 1963) Anthropologue américain, né dans l’Ohio, Melville J. Herskovits fut l’élève de Boas à l’université Columbia, à New York. C’est à la Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) qu’il fit presque toute sa carrière… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Melville Herskovits — Para otros usos de este término, véase Melville. Melville Jean Herskovits (Bellefontaine, Ohio, septiembre 10 de 1895 Evanston, Illinois, febrero 25 de 1963) Antropólogo e historiador estadounidense que estableció firmemente los estudios… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Herskovits, Melville J. — ▪ American anthropologist in full  Melville Jean Herskovits   born Sept. 10, 1895, Bellefontaine, Ohio, U.S. died Feb. 25, 1963, Evanston, Ill.       American anthropologist noted for having opened up the study of the “New World Negro” as a new… …   Universalium

  • Melville (surname) — For other uses, see Melville (disambiguation). See also: Melville family Melville is a surname and a given name. The surname has two different origins: Scottish and Irish. The given name originates from England and Scotland. Contents 1 …   Wikipedia

  • HERSKOVITS, MELVILLE JEAN — (1895–1963), U.S. anthropologist. Born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, Herskovits became a lecturer in anthropology at Columbia University in 1924. In 1927 he moved to Northwestern University, where he directed the program of African studies. In 1935 he… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Herskovits —   [ həːskəvɪts], Melville Jean, amerikanischer Anthropologe und Ethnologe, * Bellefontaine (Ohio) 10. 9. 1885, ✝ Evanston (Illinois) 25. 2. 1963; Schüler von F. Boas. Nach Studien zur Morphologie amerikanischer Farbiger (American Negros) befasste …   Universal-Lexikon

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