When and from what interests did Cultural Anthropology as a discipline arise? In which cultural and scientific matrices does it have its roots? With what steps did this discipline take on its own physiognomy, becoming autonomous from Physical Anthropology? The doctoral research project set out to observe these epistemological and cultural junctions, starting from the pioneering research in music and linguistics conducted by Franz Boas (Minden, 1858 - New York, 1942), considered the founder of American Cultural Anthropology. After his transfer to the United States in 1886, Boas maintained assiduous transatlantic contacts with the European scientific world, in a privileged way with that of the German-speaking area: they were in particular the German philosopher and psychologist Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) and the ethnomusicologist and Austrian chemist Erich Moritz von Hornbostel (1877-1935), united by a similar experimental scientific training, to share research in the field of nascent ethnomusicology with Boas. Starting from the micro-history of the scientific and personal relationship of the three scholars, testified by their epistolary correspondence which spans the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, we set ourselves the broader objective of verifying the hypothesis that music and language – shared fields of study and comparison between Boas, Stumpf and von Hornbostel – have been decisive dimensions for the purpose of the birth of cultural anthropology as a discipline. In line with the most up-to-date critical contributions, the first research phase focused on the educational context of the future anthropologist, from his Bildung to the Jewish matrix; the deepening of the interpretation of Fechnerian psychophysics, elaborated by Boas in a series of early articles published in German (1881-1882), allowed us to verify how it constituted a significant methodological and theoretical framework with which the scientist subsequently investigated – during the fieldworks conducted among the Natives of British Columbia – the perceptive processes and cognitive biases involved in exposure to non-European phonetic and linguistic systems. From a methodological point of view, the opportunity arose to investigate the history of the human sciences, philosophy and science in a metadisciplinary key: in fact, this figure derives not only from the object of the research, which crosses strictly disciplinary boundaries by intertwining the history of anthropology and science with philosophy, but also reverberates from the subjects themselves of the studies in question, for their composite formation and institutional activity in the natural and human sciences. Through archival research, comparison with primary sources and secondary critical literature, it was possible to confirm the initial research hypothesis, also observing how Boasian studies in the ethnomusicological and linguistic fields have contributed to the definition of an anthropological science intended as a study of the “mental life”; they also provided the anthropologist with decisive empirical evidence for the scientific formulation of his critical discourse on mental functions and representations, aimed at the deconstruction of the theories – and of the drifts – of social evolutionism, of the concepts of pristine cultures, of racial stability and superiority.
Quando e da quali interessi nasce l’antropologia culturale come disciplina? In quali matrici culturali e scientifiche affonda le radici? Con quali passaggi questa disciplina assunse una propria fisionomia, autonomizzandosi dall'antropologia fisica? Il progetto di ricerca dottorale si è proposto di osservare questi snodi epistemologici e culturali, muovendo dalle ricerche pionieristiche in ambito musicale e linguistico condotte da Franz Boas (Minden, 1858 – New York, 1942), considerato il fondatore dell’antropologia culturale americana. Dopo il suo trasferimento negli Stati Uniti nel 1886, Boas mantenne assidui contatti transatlantici con il mondo scientifico europeo, in modo privilegiato con quello di area germanofona: furono in particolare il filosofo e psicologo tedesco Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) e l'etnomusicologo e chimico austriaco Erich Moritz von Hornbostel (1877-1935), accomunati da una simile formazione scientifica sperimentale, a condividere con Boas le ricerche nel campo della nascente etnomusicologia. A partire dalla microstoria del rapporto scientifico e personale dei tre studiosi, testimoniata dalla loro corrispondenza epistolare che abbraccia la fine del XIX e la prima metà del XX secolo, ci si è posti l’obiettivo più ampio di verificare l’ipotesi che la musica e il linguaggio – ambiti condivisi di studio e confronto fra Boas, Stumpf e von Hornbostel – siano state dimensioni determinanti ai fini della nascita dell'antropologia culturale come disciplina. Dal punto di vista metodologico, ne è derivata l’opportunità di indagare la storia delle scienze umane, della filosofia e della scienza in chiave metadisciplinare: tale cifra deriva infatti non solo dall’oggetto della ricerca, che valica i confini strettamente disciplinari intrecciando la storia dell’antropologia e della scienza con la filosofia, ma riverbera anche dai soggetti stessi degli studi in oggetto, per la loro composita formazione e attività istituzionale nelle scienze naturali e umane. In linea con i più aggiornati contributi critici, la prima fase di ricerca si è concentrata sul contesto formativo del futuro antropologo, dalla sua Bildung alla matrice ebraica; l’approfondimento dell’interpretazione della psicofisica fechneriana, elaborata da Boas in una serie di articoli giovanili pubblicati in tedesco (1881-1882) ha permesso di verificare come essa costituì una significativa cornice metodologica e teoretica con cui lo scienziato indagò successivamente – durante i fieldworks condotti tra i Nativi della British Columbia – i processi percettivi e i bias cognitivi in gioco nell’esposizione a sistemi fonetici e linguistici extra-europei. Attraverso la ricerca d’archivio, il confronto con le fonti primarie e la letteratura critica secondaria, si è potuta confermare l’ipotesi iniziale di ricerca, osservando inoltre come gli studi boasiani in ambito etnomusicologico e linguistico abbiano contribuito alla definizione di una scienza antropologica intesa come studio della “mental life”; essi fornirono altresì all’antropologo delle prove empiriche decisive per l’impostazione scientifica del suo discorso critico sulle funzioni e rappresentazioni mentali, teso alla decostruzione delle teorie – e delle derive – dell’evoluzionismo sociale, dei concetti di pristine culture, di stabilità e superiorità razziali.
LA PARTITURA DELLE CULTURE IN FRANZ BOAS, TRA MUSICA E LINGUAGGIO: ALLE ORIGINI DELL’ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE COME DISCIPLINA / Candelieri, Irene. - (2023 May 19).
LA PARTITURA DELLE CULTURE IN FRANZ BOAS, TRA MUSICA E LINGUAGGIO: ALLE ORIGINI DELL’ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE COME DISCIPLINA
CANDELIERI, IRENE
2023-05-19
Abstract
When and from what interests did Cultural Anthropology as a discipline arise? In which cultural and scientific matrices does it have its roots? With what steps did this discipline take on its own physiognomy, becoming autonomous from Physical Anthropology? The doctoral research project set out to observe these epistemological and cultural junctions, starting from the pioneering research in music and linguistics conducted by Franz Boas (Minden, 1858 - New York, 1942), considered the founder of American Cultural Anthropology. After his transfer to the United States in 1886, Boas maintained assiduous transatlantic contacts with the European scientific world, in a privileged way with that of the German-speaking area: they were in particular the German philosopher and psychologist Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) and the ethnomusicologist and Austrian chemist Erich Moritz von Hornbostel (1877-1935), united by a similar experimental scientific training, to share research in the field of nascent ethnomusicology with Boas. Starting from the micro-history of the scientific and personal relationship of the three scholars, testified by their epistolary correspondence which spans the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, we set ourselves the broader objective of verifying the hypothesis that music and language – shared fields of study and comparison between Boas, Stumpf and von Hornbostel – have been decisive dimensions for the purpose of the birth of cultural anthropology as a discipline. In line with the most up-to-date critical contributions, the first research phase focused on the educational context of the future anthropologist, from his Bildung to the Jewish matrix; the deepening of the interpretation of Fechnerian psychophysics, elaborated by Boas in a series of early articles published in German (1881-1882), allowed us to verify how it constituted a significant methodological and theoretical framework with which the scientist subsequently investigated – during the fieldworks conducted among the Natives of British Columbia – the perceptive processes and cognitive biases involved in exposure to non-European phonetic and linguistic systems. From a methodological point of view, the opportunity arose to investigate the history of the human sciences, philosophy and science in a metadisciplinary key: in fact, this figure derives not only from the object of the research, which crosses strictly disciplinary boundaries by intertwining the history of anthropology and science with philosophy, but also reverberates from the subjects themselves of the studies in question, for their composite formation and institutional activity in the natural and human sciences. Through archival research, comparison with primary sources and secondary critical literature, it was possible to confirm the initial research hypothesis, also observing how Boasian studies in the ethnomusicological and linguistic fields have contributed to the definition of an anthropological science intended as a study of the “mental life”; they also provided the anthropologist with decisive empirical evidence for the scientific formulation of his critical discourse on mental functions and representations, aimed at the deconstruction of the theories – and of the drifts – of social evolutionism, of the concepts of pristine cultures, of racial stability and superiority.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
Tesi Boas 22.pdf
Open Access dal 19/05/2024
Descrizione: La partitura delle culture in Franz Boas, tra musica e linguaggio: alle origini dell'antropologia culturale come disciplina
Tipologia:
Tesi di dottorato
Dimensione
3.59 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
3.59 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
Pubblicazioni consigliate
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.