Chapter 16 Appendix I Biography of Ruth Benedict

Ruth Benedict (1887-1948), surnamed Fulton, grandparents participated in the Revolutionary War.Father (Frederick S. Fulton) is a surgeon.More than two years after Ruth was born, his father died of illness.Mother (Beatrice Shattuck) took Ruth and younger sister to depend on their grandparents, and then moved around as teachers.Ruth was well aware of hardships since she was a child, and loved literature. She published her poems under the pseudonym Ann Singleton (Ann Singleton) in middle school. From 1905 to 1909, Ruth studied at his mother's alma mater, Vassar College, majoring in English literature with excellent grades. His works were selected to Phi Beta Kappa many times and won prizes.After graduation, it is possible to travel in Europe for about a year.After returning to the United States, he worked in Buffalo, Los Angeles and other places, mainly as an English teacher. In 1914, married Stanley Benedict, a biochemistry teacher at Cornell Medical College.

In the autumn of 1919, Ruth entered Columbia University, specializing in cultural anthropology, and his tutor was the famous American anthropologist Franz Boas (Franz Boas 1858-1942).This had a great impact on Ruth's life.To write a biography of Ruth Benedict, one cannot fail to introduce Boas and "cultural anthropology". Known as the "Father of American Anthropology", Boas was originally from Germany, immigrated to the United States in 1886, taught at Columbia University in 1896, and was hired as the first professor of anthropology at Columbia University in 1899. He was elected president of the American Anthropological Association from 1907 to 1908.From being a professor of anthropology in 1899 to retiring in 1936, Boas taught and presided over the teaching and research of anthropology at Columbia University for 37 years, and trained a group of anthropologists, among whom Ruth was the most outstanding.

Anthropology originally started from the theory of evolution, using methods such as archaeology, paleontology, paleogeography and geology, and field surveys to mainly investigate the evolutionary process of human beings, and has long focused on the study of human "physical constitution" (called "physical anthropology").Later, the study gradually expanded to the distribution of races and customs, and still inevitably emphasized the decisive role of natural environment, race, and blood on people.Boas was originally a scholar in this area. The degree he obtained at the University of Kiel in Germany in 1881 was "Doctorate in Physical Geography".However, after graduating, he used the results of three or four years of painstaking research on Canada, the Eskimos on the Northwest Coast of North America, and the Kwakiutl Indians (Kwakiutl Indians). "Theory" has produced doubts, and believes that: the essence of human beings is shaped by the day after tomorrow, and compared with the natural environment, society or culture plays a more decisive role.He opposed racial discrimination and denied the so-called "pure race" and "excellent race". His works were banned by Hitler's fascists.

In 1901, American academic circles decided to regard "cultural anthropology" as an independent branch of "anthropology", alongside "physical anthropology".Boas was one of the early pioneers of this emerging discipline.The global development of European and American capitalism has made multicultural and ethnic problems increasingly prominent, and a large number of immigrants (especially in the United States) urgently need to formulate correct policies to deal with multiculturalism. It is in this situation that "cultural anthropology" emerged and developed.Boas himself paid great attention to the immigration issue in the American scientific and technological circles, and conducted fruitful research.

Ruth loved the teacher so much that she sometimes even referred to Boas as "Daddy Franz" because of her father's death in infancy. In 1923, under the guidance of Boas, Ruth completed his doctoral dissertation "The Concept of Guardian Spirits in North America", which explored the cultural connotation in religious behavior.The dissertation was successfully passed, and Ruth received a Ph.D. Ruth, adhering to Boas's excellent style of study, paid attention to the investigation and research of primitive cultures throughout his life, and believed: "These primitive cultures are a big laboratory." Investigation is a basic job." From 1922 to 1926, she conducted investigations on the Serrano (1922), Zuni (1924), Ochiti (1925), Pima (1926) and other tribes among the North American Indians. The survey and research of her later writing monographs gradually formed the basis of her cultural theory.

Here, we want to insert a section of Ruth's marital status.Her and Stanley's marriage lasted 16 years, and there was no shortage of mutual care.However, Stanley does not claim that Ruth has a career, much less encourages her academic studies, preferring that she be "Mrs. Benedict".She couldn't even get a research grant because she was "Mrs. Benedict" (she was thought to be entitled to Stanley's financial support). In 1931, Ruth and Stanley separated.Ruth was a lecturer at Columbia and assistant to Boas from 1923, but it was not until after she and Stanley separated that she received her first full teaching appointment: assistant professor at Boas.

In 1934, her book Patterns of Culture was published.In this book, she makes an in-depth and detailed comparative study of three primitive cultures: the Pueblo people in New Mexico, the Kwakiutl people on the northwest coast of North America, and the Dobu people in the Negro Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean in Asia. And extensively use the research results of other primitive cultures to put forward the theory of "cultural model".The main points seem to be summarized as follows: First, people are "products of society", and customs (custom) shape people.She quotes Dewey as saying that "custom plays a far greater role in shaping the behavior of individuals than any influence an individual can have on customs".It is believed that it is not biological inheritance, but social "customs" that shape people.Said: "What really binds people together is their culture, that is, the concepts and norms they have in common."She pointed out that the so-called "purified race" is a lie.Because of the emphasis on customs, the title of the first chapter of this book is "The Science of Customs".It seems that the connotation of culture is mainly customs, and cultural anthropology is mainly the science of studying social customs of various ethnic groups.Second, "integration of culture": Individuals can have multiple or even infinite choices in their behavior. "Every culture chooses from people's many possibilities with the greatest tolerance." Society uses various means such as evaluation to coordinate various conflicts with the greatest tolerance, so that individual behavior tends to assimilate, "like an artistic style production and preservation".This is "cultural integration".Ruth said: "A culture is like a person, a more or less consistent pattern of thought and behavior." Of course, this pattern shapes the individual.3. Cultural relativism: Ruth believes that culture is a whole, but it does not exclude individual differences.Cultural patterns are neither fixed nor monolithic. "Customs have no distinction between weight and thickness." For individual or collective cultural variation, regardless of region, race or development status, we should have great tolerance and understanding. While emphasizing the strengths and advantages of our own national culture, we must also Recognize the different values ​​developed by other nations in different cultures, and advocate mutual exchanges and integration.

Ruth's theory is called "Cultural Personality School" or "Cultural Personality Theory".Some reviewers summed it up in two sentences: "Culture is the magnification of personality" and "Personality is the miniature of culture".Some commentators added: "cultural plasticity", "cultural determinism: a response to social Darwinism" and other basic features.This school is also classified under the "school of psychology". The book "Cultural Models" has established Ruth's academic status. Up to now, it has been translated into 14 languages ​​and has become one of the classic works in cultural anthropology. In 1935, another of her fieldwork: Zuni Mythology was published. In 1936, Boas retired (at the age of 78), and Ruth was appointed chair of the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University.

In middle school, Ruth found that she was hard of hearing and a little deaf, but this did not prevent her teaching from being lively and excellent at leading students into discussions.Beautiful words, good use of specific materials, and unique analysis, these advantages make Ruth's treatises not only valued by professional workers, but also have a wide influence in society. 1937.Ruth is promoted to associate professor. In 1939, she joined the National Will Committee, an organization whose purpose was to use sociology and psychology to study some of the problems of national will in wartime. In 1941, Ruth participated in the establishment of the "Cultural Integration Research Association".During this period, Ruth wrote "Race: Science and Politics" (1940) in response to the ethnographic theory advocated by Hitler's fascism, criticizing racism.After publication, it was rewritten into an easy-to-understand pamphlet (1943), which was widely circulated among citizens, students, and the army.

On June 28, 1943, Ruth accepted the employment of the Overseas Intelligence Bureau of the U.S. Wartime Intelligence Agency as the person in charge of the basic analysis of cultural studies, studying the nationalities of European and Southeast Asian countries, and psychological operations such as wartime propaganda against the United States. As well as occupation policy, etc., to make suggestions.Ruth used "cultural personality homotype theory" to analyze the cultural patterns of various countries, and wrote special reports on Thailand, Romania, China, Norway, Denmark and other countries.With the development of the war situation, the focus quickly shifted to Japan. The War Intelligence Bureau established the Japanese Section, and Ruth also concentrated on studying Japan.

In June 1944, Ruth accepted a mission to study Japan.In addition to using text and image materials, she paid special attention to the investigation of captured Japanese soldiers and Japanese-Americans in the "Japanese isolation shelter" during the war in the United States. In May 1945, Ruth began writing a memorandum on the Emperor of Japan and a report on Japanese culture. The "report" was completed in about August, the title is: "Report 25: Japanese Behavior Patterns", and it was submitted to the War Intelligence Bureau on September 15.The memorandum was submitted earlier than the report.On the important issue of how to deal with the emperor, Ruth clearly advocated the preservation and utilization of the emperor. In 1946, Ruth rewrote the report as "The Greatest Book", which became a bestseller in Japan and the United States immediately after publication.This is a book that "discusses why Japan became a Japanese nation".Japanese scholars are amazed that a cultural anthropologist who has never been to Japan has collected such vivid and specific materials and formed many arguments about the Japanese nation and Japanese people in just a few years. Scholars can not help but doubt.In short, the impact is great, and people have also attracted attention to the emerging cultural anthropology in the United States. (See Appendix II: "Japanese Scholars' Comments on "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword"") Before publication, most of the objects of cultural anthropology investigation and research were islands, mountainous areas and other places with little contact with the outside world, and even marginal minority groups with little written history. The research methods mainly relied on direct contact and field investigation.The research object of this book is Japan, a contemporary big country with a long history and culture, one of the world's great powers, located in the East and absorbing Western culture, and its research can only be carried out in the United States.This is clearly a groundbreaking attempt in cultural anthropology.With the progress of globalization, ethnic and cultural issues are becoming more and more prominent, and such attempts will obviously receive more attention. Ruth's reputation then reached a new peak.This year, she was awarded the "full-time professor" at Columbia University and won the annual achievement award from the American Federation of University Women. More importantly: this year, Ruth was appointed to host a major project at Columbia University: Contemporary Cultural Studies, with a funding of up to 100,000 US dollars at the time and more than 120 participants. It was planned to spend 4 years (1947-1951) on The cultures of seven different European nations, and then conduct a comparative study of the cultures of the two continents of Europe and Asia.Ruth traveled a long way and visited Europe in person, in order to directly grasp the first-hand information of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Belgium and other countries.Unfortunately, the stressful trek and excessive enthusiasm took a toll on her health. In 1948, she died of coronary thrombosis at the age of 61.Ruth taught at Columbia University from 1923 to 1948 when he died on the job, a total of 26 years.

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Notes: Original page 13.Page 9 of the Chinese translation.