Kalervo Oberg (1901–1973) was a Canadian
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
. Oberg was dedicated to fieldwork, serving as a civil servant and a teacher. He travelled the world and wrote about these experiences so others could enjoy them as well. Oberg is perhaps best known for applying the term
culture shock to all people who travel abroad into new cultures and for his doctoral dissertation, ''The Social Economy of the Tlingit Indians of Alaska''.
Early life
Oberg was born to
Finnish parents in
Nanaimo
Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...
,
British Columbia on January 15, 1901. His family moved to
Sointula, British Columbia, when Oberg was very young, but the collapse of the settlement forced his family to leave.
Education
Oberg earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the
University of British Columbia, attended the
University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a master's degree in economics, and earned his doctorate from
University of Chicago which linked
economics and the social organization among the
Tlingit, an Alaskan Native tribe.
Culture shock
Oberg continued to spend much of his time in the United States, teaching in university systems in both Missouri and Montana, and became a U.S. citizen in 1944. Along with teaching in the United States, Oberg spent time both as a student and teacher in foreign countries. He attended the
London School of Economics during two different periods in the 1930s.
While in São Paulo, he taught at the
Free School of Sociology and Political Science
Free may refer to:
Concept
* Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything
* Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism
* Emancipate, to procure ...
, however didn't obtain a permanent position. Oberg then worked in various government postings overseas, including the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, a forerunner of the U.S.
Agency for International Development, with assignments including
Ecuador,
Peru,
Brazil, and
Surinam Surinam may refer to:
* Surinam (Dutch colony) (1667–1954), Dutch plantation colony in Guiana, South America
* Surinam (English colony) (1650–1667), English short-lived colony in South America
* Surinam, alternative spelling for Suriname
...
. After his employment with the government, Oberg found teaching positions at Cornell, the University of Southern California, and also Oregon State University, on a part-time basis late in his career.
Oberg gave a talk to the Women's Club of Rio de Janeiro on August 3, 1954, explaining feelings common to those facing their first
cross-cultural experience. In so doing, he identified 4 stages of culture shock which continue to be commonly used, for example in Winkleman's stages of cultural adaptation. Bobbs-Merrill published Oberg's talk later in 1954 and it was then republished in
Practical Anthropology
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action (philosophy), action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, ...
(7:177-182) in 1960. The June 1974
American Anthropologist 76(2):356-360 published a
obituary for Oberg
External links
- biography
- Fragments, Department of Anthropology, Orgegon State University
Edward Dutton, Sointula and the Seeds of Kalervo Oberg’s Culture Shock Model
Canadian anthropologists
Canadian people of Finnish descent
People from Nanaimo
1901 births
1973 deaths
20th-century anthropologists
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