Lewis H. Morgan
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| Lewis H. Morgan | |
 Lewis H. Morgan
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| Born | November 21, 1818 Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, U.S. |
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| Died | December 17, 1881 (aged 63) Rochester, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Anthropologist |
| Parents | Jedediah and Harriet (Steele) Morgan |
Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was known as an American ethnologist, anthropologist and writer. However, his professional life was in the field of law. He is best known for his work on cultural evolution and Native Americans, which influenced the growth of the emerging new fields of ethnology and anthropology (which became primary at the turn of the 20th century.)
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[edit] Biography
Born in rural Rochester, Morgan studied law at Union College in 1840 and began practicing in his home town of Aurora, New York, as well as Rochester. Morgan built his prominence on achievements both in political and academic life. He served in the New York State Assembly and Senate.
He was also elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1879, and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He died in 1881.
[edit] Work in ethnology
Morgan became interested in the Native Americans of his region and helped form a club (Grand Order of the Iroquois) to promote the interests of the Iroquois. After he began studying their society, he was formally incorporated as an adopted member. They named him Tayadaowuhkuh, meaning bridging the gap (between the Iroquois and the European-Americans.)
Morgan was lucky enough to meet and form a friendship with Ely S. Parker, of the Seneca tribe and the Tonawanda Reservation. Classically educated and a diplomat with the Seneca, Parker had also studied law. With his help, including translation and introduction to members, Morgan studied the culture of the Iroquois. He wrote the book The League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois (1851), recognizing the importance of Parker's contribution by dedicating it to him and "our joint researches."[1] This work became one of the earliest examples of ethnography. Based on this initial research, Morgan became more interested in specific questions of human social organization.
Morgan set himself the task of collecting and sorting the systems of relationship terms used by tribes spanning the greater part of the United States of America. Through correspondence, he extended the research on native peoples to many other countries. This research culminated in his seminal Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity (1871), which was printed by the Smithsonian Press. In this work, Morgan set forth his hypothesis of the "Unity of Origin of Mankind". He believed it was obvious in the similar characteristics of systems of relationship terms used by peoples around the world. Morgan also discerned that social institutions continue to develop and change, rather than remain static.
Several more years of research led Morgan to revise his views. Combined with an exhaustive study of classic Greek and Roman sources, he crowned his forty years of work with his magnum opus Ancient Society (1877). In this work, Morgan set forth his theory of social evolution. He proposed a unilinear scheme of evolution, through which he believed societies progressed from primitive to modern. His evolutionary views of the three major stages of social evolution: savagery, barbarism, and civilization, were expounded in Ancient Society. They were further divided and defined by technological inventions, like use of fire, bow, pottery in the savage era; domestication of animals, agriculture, metalworking in the barbarian era; and development of alphabet and writing in the civilization era. (In part, this was an effort to create a structure for North American history that was comparable for the three ages of European pre-history, developed by scholars in Denmark during these years.)[2]
Morgan introduced a critical link between social progress and technological progress. Morgan viewed technological progress as a force behind social progress. Further, he believed that changes in technology lead to social change, in social institutions, organisations or ideologies. His theory contributed to the contemporary development of concepts about social Darwinism.[3]
Morgan's last work, Houses and House-life of the American Aborigines (1881), was elaborated from what he had originally planned as an additional part of Ancient Society. In it, Morgan presented evidence, mostly from North and South America, that the development of house architecture and house culture were inseparable from the development of other domestic institutions.
Many specific aspects of Morgan's evolutionary position have been rejected by later ethnologists. Unilinear theories of evolution are not highly regarded. Nonetheless, anthropologists remain interested in the connections which Morgan outlined between material culture and social structure. Moreover, many anthropologists recognize that Morgan was one of the first people to systematically study kinship systems.
[edit] Legacy and honors
- Annual lecture in Morgan's name at the Anthropology Department of the University of Rochester.
[edit] References
- ^ Steven Conn, History's Shadow: Native Americans and Historical Consciousness in the Nineteenth Century, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, p.210
- ^ Steven Conn, History's Shadow: Native Americans and Historical Consciousness in the Nineteenth Century, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004,
- ^ Lewis H. Morgan, Ancient Society, online, Marxist Internet Archive Reference Archive, accessed 16 Feb 2009
[edit] External links
- Works by Lewis H. Morgan, Houses and House-Life at Project Gutenberg
- Lewis H. Morgan, Ancient Society (complete text online), Marxist Internet Archive Reference Archive
