The American Indian
Quick Summary
Clark Wissler's The American Indian (1917) is a foundational work in North American ethnology. It explores how cultural traits cluster regionally and their relationship with the environment, outlining distinct culture areas across the continent. Wissler, an anthropologist influenced by Franz Boas, focused on material culture, myths, art, social organization, and religious ceremonies like the Sun Dance. The book highlights the diversity of Indigenous peoples, whose cultures were shaped by available resources and environments, leading to varied housing, clothing, and customs.123
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culture areaMerging relativism and cross-cultural comparisonHe published the results in The American Indian (1917), an ethnology in which he systematically described the material and social traits of the New Worldās native cultures. He used 13 categories to organize his analysis of living cultures (and related, but somewhat different, categories for ancient cultures): food, domesticated animalsā¦
Read MoreHe published the results in The American Indian (1917), an ethnology in which he systematically described the material and social traits of the New Worldās native cultures. He used 13 categories to organize his analysis of living cultures (and related, but somewhat different, categories for ancient cultures): food, domesticated animalsā¦
Read More- cultureCultural areas
anthropologist Clark Wissler in The American Indian (1917) and Man and Culture (1923). He divided the Indian cultures (as they were in the latter half of the 19th century) into geographic cultural regions: the Caribou area of northern Canada; the Northwest coast, characterized by the use of salmon andā¦
Read Moreanthropologist Clark Wissler in The American Indian (1917) and Man and Culture (1923). He divided the Indian cultures (as they were in the latter half of the 19th century) into geographic cultural regions: the Caribou area of northern Canada; the Northwest coast, characterized by the use of salmon andā¦
Read More