Indigenous Visions

Rediscovering the World of Franz Boas

Blackhawk Ned, Wilner Isaiah Lorado

In 1911, the publication of Franz Boas's "The Mind of Primitive Man" challenged widely held claims about race and intelligence that justified violence and inequality. Now, a group of leading scholars examines how this groundbreaking work hinged on relationships with a global circle of Indigenous thinkers who used Boasian anthropology as a medium for their ideas. Contributors also examine how Boasian thought intersected with the work of major modernist figures, demonstrating how ideas of diversity and identity sprang from colonization and empire.

About the Author

Ned Blackhawk is professor of history and American studies at Yale University and author of "Violence over the Land".

Isaiah Lorado Wilner is postdoctoral fellow in the Berlin Center for the History of Knowledge at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.

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