Melville J. Herskovits
Encyclopedia
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. 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.”
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. In 1957, Herskovits founded the African Studies Association
and was the organization's first president.
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.
After World War II
, Herskovits publicly advocated African independence and also attacked American politicians for viewing Africa
as an object of Cold War
strategy.
Bellefontaine, Ohio
Bellefontaine is a city in and the county seat of Logan County, Ohio, United States. The population was 13,069 at the 2000 census. It is the center of the Bellefontaine Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau in 2003...
- February 25, 1963 in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
) was an American anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
who firmly established African
African studies
African studies is the study of Africa, especially the cultures and societies of Africa .The field includes the study of:Culture of Africa, History of Africa , Anthropology of Africa , Politics of Africa, Economy of Africa African studies is the study of Africa, especially the cultures and...
and African American studies
African American studies
African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. It is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans...
in American academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
. The son of Jewish immigrants, he obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy
Bachelor of Philosophy
Bachelor of Philosophy is the title of an academic degree. The degree usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects...
at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1923 and obtained his Master's and Ph.D. in Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York under the guidance of the German-born American anthropologist Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
. 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
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
with a three-year, $30,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
, followed by a five-year, $100,000 grant from the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
in 1951. The Program of African Studies
African studies
African studies is the study of Africa, especially the cultures and societies of Africa .The field includes the study of:Culture of Africa, History of Africa , Anthropology of Africa , Politics of Africa, Economy of Africa African studies is the study of Africa, especially the cultures and...
was the first of its kind at an American academic institution. 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.”
The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University, established in 1954, is the largest separate Africana
Africana studies
In United States education, Africana studies, or Africology is the study of the histories, politics and cultures of peoples of African origin both in Africa and in the African diaspora....
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
African languages
There are over 2100 and by some counts over 3000 languages spoken natively in Africa in several major language families:*Afro-Asiatic spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahel...
, extensive collections of maps, posters, videos and photographs, as well as electronic resources. In 1957, Herskovits founded the African Studies Association
African Studies Association
The African Studies Association is an association of scholars and professionals in the United States and Canada with an interest in the continent of Africa. Started in 1957, the ASA is the leading organization of African Studies in North America. The associations headquarters are Rutgers...
and was the organization's first president.
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
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. This principle was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and...
, 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.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Herskovits publicly advocated African independence and also attacked American politicians for viewing Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
as an object of Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
strategy.
Works
- The Cattle Complex in East Africa, PhD Dissertation, 1923
- "The Negro's Americanism" in The New NegroThe New NegroThe New Negro: An Interpretation is an anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays on African and African American art and literature edited by Alain Locke, who lived in Washington, DC and taught at Howard University during the Harlem Renaissance...
, 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).
External links
- Melville J. Herskovits Papers, Northwestern University Archives, Evanston, Illinois
- Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness a documentary from California Newsreel
- Cultural Contributions of Americans with Roots in Slovakia
- Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies
- Northwestern University Program of African Studies
- Northwestern University Department of Anthropology