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Franz Boas’ Postulate of the Warfare Origin of Secret Societies and Myths about the 'Culture Heroˮ and the 'Tricksterˮ in North America
- Source :
- Etnoantropološki Problemi, Vol 16, Iss 1 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- University of Belgrade, 2021.
-
Abstract
- In this paper, the authors argue that Franz Boas had a coherent theory of the secret society, which he did not systematically develop anywhere, but which can be reconstructed from several of his works. The authors are not dealing with the whole theory, but only with the postulate of the warfare origin of secret societies (which later became the foundation of the Männerbund theory). Namely, Boas believed that the secret societies of the North American Indians were originally warlike, but that by the beginning of the 20th century they either retained only the functions of initiation and education, or were transformed into therapeutic and dance societies. Although he claimed that the mythology of the Indians did not provide additional insights into the origins of secret societies, his dealings with the myth of the “culture heroˮ and the “tricksterˮ proved the contrary. The authors try to go a step further and find new contributions for the study of the origins of secret societies in North America in the myth of Wolf as the brother (father) of the “culture hero.ˮ
- Subjects :
- Franz Boas
NorthAmerican Indians
secret society
war
myth
Anthropology
GN1-890
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English, French, Serbian
- ISSN :
- 03531589 and 23348801
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Etnoantropološki Problemi
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.fe56ce80d7a84ee8b3b5113e6910d90a
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v16i1.1