User:Ryskimustard12/Salvage anthropology

[Lead Paragraph- Edit] Salvage anthropology is an umbrella term that describes a school of anthropological thought as well as various methods of the acquisition of both material and intangible culture. It was understood that as time progressed and modernity was adopted by cultures that were considered less-advanced than European or Euro-American societies, the "authentic" forms of said cultures would be lost. Therefore, anthropologists took efforts to preserve what they saw as knowledge, traditions, and artifacts that were untouched by colonization in order to preserve what was believed to be the links to the broader human past. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, salvage anthropology influenced collectors of all kinds, both amateur and professional, including those interested in music, material culture, and osteology. Ideas connected to salvage anthropology influenced how cultures were written about and documented through a wide range of publications and popular exhibitions.

Origins of Term [edit]
The term "salvage anthropology" was popularized around the middle of the 20th century, and the core ideas had roots in broader schools of anthropological thought. When the term was coined in the 1960s, it referred mainly to archeological efforts to find cultural information before an area was obliterated by the construction of reservoirs, power plants, or roads, or before land was leveled for irrigation. These projects were often conducted under time restrictions, based on when the area was slated for destruction.

Despite the origins of the term, "salvage anthropology" is most frequently used to describe Euro-American attempts to “preserve” North American Indigenous cultures in the 19th and 20th centuries. While the term "salvage anthropology" did not emerge until later, a widespread belief in the eventual extinction of Indigenous societies drove widespread efforts to document, record, and collect.

Developments within Anthropological Study [draft]
The scholarly context that concepts of salvage anthropology stemmed out of were that of two influential individuals in the American and the British schools. In America, it was Franz Boas and his principles of cultural relativism. In the British school, it was Malinowski and his version of functionalism. Firstly, cultural relativism was developed by Franz Boas and is the concept that cultures must be studied within their own contexts and not be compared or contrasted to any other culture. Secondly, Bronislaw Malinowski developed a version of functionalism known as "biocultural functionalism" that was based around four cultural needs of humans. These included: economies, social control, education, and political organization. Therefore, when considering Indigenous cultures around the globe, such as in North America, anthropologists tended to view them within their own cultural contexts, yet with the belief in an ever-present threat of the influences of colonization and modernization. Not necessarily with the fear for the individuals themselves who it was thought would lose their culture, but fear that the cultural information would be lost for future anthropologists to utilize.

Modern Period in Anthropology
The Modern Period in anthropology was characterized by the attempt to apply scientific methods to how cultures form and develop. It was in this mode of thinking that cultures were thought to exist on a hierarchy of development, with certain cultures, most typically non-Western cultures being more primitive, and Western cultures being viewed as the most advanced. It was also understood, however, that cultures were not static and therefore the cultures that were considered to be more primitive would eventually develop to be at the same level of modernity as Western cultures.

Vanishing Race Theory[edit]
Beginning in the Jacksonian Era, many Americans subscribed to the belief that Indigenous peoples were "vanishing". Despite the fact that governmental actions, including the forced removal of the Cherokee from Georgia via the Trail of Tears, had much to do with the declining population of Indigenous peoples in the Eastern United States, leading American thinkers shifted the causes of “disappearance” to the natural progression of Manifest Destiny. This is the idea that Euro-Americans who were settling the North American continent were divinely chosen to spread their traditions and ways of life to cultures that were considered more "primitive." In addition to the belief that Indigenous societies would physically vanish due to forced migration, disease, and war, Americans also held the belief that Indigenous peoples would "culturally" vanish through contact with white people and forced assimilation. As a result of this belief, Euro-Americans took on the responsibility of preserving the cultural memory and traditions of Indigenous peoples, particularly through the collection of cultural objects, as well as the documentation of Indigenous life-ways through art, photographs, and later film.

Collection Methods
[draft] The methods of collection within salvage anthropology can generally be divided into two types. One was through the acquisition of human remains and cultural materials, often without the consent or even knowledge of community members, while the other was through the documentation of cultural practices by means of photography, film, and interviews (salvage ethnography).

[edit] Nineteenth- and early-twentieth century salvage anthropology was often undertaken through disrespectful and disingenuous methods. Archeologists frequently removed artifacts and human remains from grave sites, paying little attention to whether they were actively being used to bury relatives of tribe members. As archeologists and anthropologists scrambled to preserve a “disappearing” culture, they disrupted memorialization of relatives and ancestors. By the late 1980s, it was estimated that museums, other institutions and private collectors possessed between 300,000 and 2.5 million bodies of American Indians. Many objects were also obtained without the consent of their owners. Alanson Buck Skinner, who collected for the American Museum of Natural History from 1910 to 1914, was known as “The Little Weasel,” because of his collection techniques. Skinner used deception to acquire objects from the Menomini, claiming that the objects would be held in a “sacred place” with many other Menomini objects. By thus removing objects from native cultures, American anthropologists took on the power to interpret and create narratives for the objects, rather than allowing them to remain part of Native cultural memory.

[draft] Additionally, cultural anthropologists partook in salvage anthropology through methods of obtaining cultural knowledge by the documentation of oral accounts as well as through the use of relatively newer technology in the form of portable photograph equipment and film cameras.

[draft] Franz Boas was one such individual who partook in both the acquisition of ethnographic information from informants, as well as participated in practices of grave robbery and desecration during his time on the Northwest Coast.

Edward S. Curtis and The Modern Historic Records Association
A central belief held by those who undertook salvage anthropology was that it was possible to capture a culture in its entirety and create a comprehensive study around it. This can be seen in practices of salvage ethnography which often involved the documentation of cultures through means of film and photography. One such example was the anthropologist Edward S. Curtis and the work he did to preserve "...all of the important [Indigenous] tribes of the United States and Alaska."

The Modern Historic Records Association no longer exists, and the central goal of the organization was the creation of types of vaults, somewhat akin to time capsules, for future historians. It was meant to exist as a physical space for the fulfillment of the belief that it was possible to completely understand a culture, and to portray that understanding through written documents and various forms of image capture.