Robert Fritz Graebner (4 March 1877,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

– 13 July 1934, Berlin) was a German

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropolog ...

best known for his development of the theory of '' Kulturkreis'', or culture circle. He was the first theoretician of the ''Vienna School of Ethnology''. Graebner advanced a theory of diffusion of culture (Kulturkreise) which became the basis of a culture-historical approach to

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

. His theories had influence for a time in the field of

, and were also propounded by

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...

, Clark Wissler and

Paul Kirchhoff Paul Kirchhoff (17 August 1900, Halle, Province of Westphalia – 9 December 1972) was a German-Mexican anthropologist, most noted for his seminal work in defining and elaborating the culture area of Mesoamerica, a term he coined. Early life ...

. He also induced the concept of "primeval culture". He was in Australia attending an anthropological conference when

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

broke out in 1914, and due to accusations of having hidden certain sensitive documents he was not allowed to leave Australia for the duration of the war. He is known for identifying six primeval culture complexes in the Oceania region, given in his book "Ethnologie": Tasmanian culture, Old Australian boomerang culture, Totemic hunter culture, Moitey complex (two class horticulturists culture), Melenesian bow culture, and Polynesian patrilineal culture.

Publications

*''Methode der Ethnologie'' (Method of Ethnology), 1911 *''Das Weltbild der Primitiven'' (The World View of the Primitives), 1924

References

German anthropologists 1877 births 1934 deaths {{anthropologist-stub