18 Facts About Julian Steward

Julian Haynes Steward was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing "the concept and method" of cultural ecology, as well as a scientific theory of culture change.

At age 16, Julian Steward left an unhappy childhood in Washington, DC to attend boarding school in Deep Springs Valley, California, in the Great Basin.

Farrand advised Julian Steward to continue pursuing his interest in anthropology at Berkeley.

Julian Steward later established an anthropology department at the University of Michigan, where he taught until 1930, when he was replaced by Leslie White, with whose model of "universal" cultural evolution he disagreed, although it became popular and gained the department fame and notoriety.

In 1930 Julian Steward relocated to the University of Utah, which appealed to him for its proximity to the Sierra Nevada, and nearby archaeological fieldwork opportunities in California, Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon.

In 1931, Julian Steward, needing money, began fieldwork on the Great Basin Shoshone for Kroeber's Culture Element Distribution survey; in 1935 he received an appointment to the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnography, which published some of his most influential works.

For eleven years Julian Steward was an administrator of considerable influence, editing the Handbook of South American Indians.

Julian Steward had a job with the Smithsonian Institution, where he initiateded the Institute for Social Anthropology in 1943.

Julian Steward served on a committee to reorganize the American Anthropological Association and played a role in the creation of the National Science Foundation.

Julian Steward was active in archaeological pursuits, successfully lobbying Congress to create the Committee for the Recovery of Archaeological Remains and worked with Gordon Willey to establish the Viru Valley project, an ambitious research program involved with Peru.

Julian Steward searched for cross-cultural regularities in an effort to discern principles of culture and culture change.

Julian Steward's work explained variation in the complexity of social organization as being limited to within a range possibilities by the environment.

Julian Steward quit Columbia for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he directed the Anthropology Department and continued to teach until his retirement in 1968.

Julian Steward is notable for developing a more nomothetic, social-scientific style.

Julian Steward was one of the first anthropologists to examine the way in which national and local levels of society were related to one another.

Julian Steward questioned the possibility of creating a social theory which encompassed the entire evolution of humanity; yet, he argued that anthropologists are not limited to description of specific, existing cultures.

Julian Steward believed it is possible to create theories analyzing typical, common culture, representative of specific eras or regions.

Julian Steward initially emphasized ecosystems and physical environments, but soon became interested in how these environments could influence cultures.