Boas Anthropology

Essay (one or two pages) on Boas' Anthropology.

In The Shaping of American Anthropology 1883-1911, George Stocking discusses the Boas-Mason debate relating to the "likeness of effects". What role does this argument render on internal meanings and classification in cultures?

Also, how does Boas' contribution with history and science get applied to anthropological theories and or American anthropology?

Hi Patricia.

I noticed that this is your first post, so welcome to EssayForum!

What exactly are you looking for? It looks here like you've just posted your prompt. EssayForum is a forum where writers can compare thoughts, critiques, and advice. Before we can do that, though, we need your thoughts! Once you've given us something to work with, I'm sure we'll all be happy to help you write this essay.

Why don't you start off doing a little research? Have you read "In the Shaping of American Anthropology 1883-1911"? If not, that's definitely where to start. Identify the Boas-Mason debate. What was it about? Who were the sides? What were their positions?

Then, identify the cultures in question and try to understand why they are classified the way they are. Try to identify the internal meanings being discussed. Finally, identify what George Stocking said- what was the contemporary thinking? How did his ideas vary from it? What did he think about the Boas-Mason debate?

Once you've got this down, you can start writing your essay. Start with just sentences, then put them together like this:

Try writing a paragraph:
Write a sentence about something.
Write a sentence with an example of what you mean.
Write another sentence to explain some more.
Write a thoughtful conclusion sentence for the paragraph.
(Written by EF_Kevin)

Once you've got that started, post your work here, and we'll take a look at it.

Good luck!

Yes, that little recipe is good when people have trouble or feel lost when they try to write an essay. That recipe is too simple, though!! Obviously, essays can take many forms. But the idea is to spend a whole paragraph explaining ONE idea. That is a good way for beginners to write.

I googled this:
George Stocking Mason debate likeness of effects

But I did not get much useful stuff!! I'm sorry, I might not be much help here.

My advice is this:
Look at your class readings, and write a paragraph about "internal meanings" in cultures.
Next, write about classification in cultures.
Then, write about that debate, and whatever likeness of effects is.

The point is to write those three separate things. If you try to do everything at once, you get overwhelmed.

Got class readings for these subjects?

Oh, excuse me Patricia!

I just noticed what I had written here- I had three tabs open, the second part of what I wrote was not intended for this thread at all- I had an ESL essay open, too-I switched from the ESL essay to the third tab to find Kevin's quote and must have switched back to this essay. If you're reading Boas' Anthropology and other advanced literature, you certainly don't need that advice! Sorry about that.

Take Kevin's advice, and good luck!

Well, you would be surprised at how helpful a simple recipe like that can be, even for people who are experienced writers. An essay with good structure is a series of well-articulated ideas. If someone deeply understands that, it really helps them interact with their readings and writings.

So, I think it is useful even though you intended it for another thread, ha ha... it's how we break an essay down into the ideas, the individual ideas.

In this case, the student is struggling to come up with an answer to complex questions; it is especially important to identify key ideas, like "likeness of effects" in the topic sentence of one of the questions. Those questions need to be broken down into their component ideas.

Then, you need to break down the reading in the same way. It's tedious, but maybe you will love it!