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Mythos Project

Mythos Project is a project in the Explorers Theme of Mágoulo’s School for the Spiritually Gifted.

Big Question: What are our stories saying to us and about us? How can we find power to use story to connect to others and live our own story?

Myths, whether modern or ancient, are a facet of Culture, and culture is one of the Four Fields1 of Anthropology. Anthropology effects what we know about cultures and how we think about them which is important in a world where different cultures and sub-cultures constantly weave together.

Parable: In the Gilded Age, science was rising as a power controlling governments, economics, and the destinies of nations. Great Empires of Science were steaming machines of war and exploitation to colonies across the world and new frontiers at home. Why was it fine to take control and resources wherever our trains chugged or ships landed?

Two great scientists of culture once wrestled with this question, but came up with two very different answers. The prize: to be named the Father of American Anthropology. Daniel G. Brinton was popular because he said cultures evolve through a hierarchy of biological, technological, and intellectual sophistication2 and Western Culture had reached the pinnacle. Therefore, it was only natural that the West dominated the world. Brinton studied less advanced cultures as curiosities and catalogued them in museums. Franz Boas was unpopular because he studied cultures out of love for humanity and said cultures cannot be ranked as higher or lower, right or wrong3 — a serious threat to Western Imperialism. Boas taught from the university,4 and seemed to love his many students as much as the subjects of his study.

In the end, it was Franz Boas — the imperially unpopular German — who became the Father of American Anthropology.

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References & Notes

  1. Franz Boas developed Four Fields of Anthropology: Archaeology, Linguistics, Physical Anthropology, and Cultural Anthropology
  2. Many call the foundation of Brinton’s theories “scientific racism”, and it was a common theme in his day and lasting through the error of WWII. Scientific racism still exists today and is promoted by some nativist and racial supremacists with their own journals like Mankind Quarterly.
  3. Boas is considered the main author of Cultural Relativity — that all cultures are “true” or “good” relative to themselves and should be treated as equal — the main doctrine of our current academic establishment.
  4. Some credit Boas’ location in the university — an institution growing in power scientifically and politically as it produced professionals — with his victory over Brinton and scientific racisim. See: Lee D. Baker, “Race, Relevance, and Daniel G. Brinton’s Ill-Fated Bid for Prominence” Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture. Duke University Press, 2010. pg 119.