Reflections on Sapir's anthropology in Canada*
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abstract
The years 1910 to 1925 cover Sapir's residence in Ottawa; they were significant for his personal development, for his participation in the professionalization of Canadian anthropology, and for his substantial and original contributions to anthropology as a cosmopolitan discipline. These three perspectives ‐ personal, professional and disciplinary ‐ are used in this paper to depict schematically some important aspects of his genius and his career. His envisioned ‘psychiatric science’ was taking shape during the period; his article, ‘the unconscious patterning of behaviour in society’ which poses still unanswered questions is herein discussed.Les années de 1910 à 1925 entourent le séjour à Ottawa de Sapir, et elles étaient significatives en ce qui conceme son développment personnel, sa participation à la création du charactére professionel de l'anthropo‐logie canadienne, et sa contribution solide et originelle à l'anthropologie come discipline cosmopolite. Ces trois aspects, personnel, professionel, et celui du discipline, sont les approches complémentaires, prises dans cet essai pour piendre schkmatiquement des éléments importants de son génie et sa carriére. Sa ‘science psychiatrique’ qu'il a prévue était en train de se former pendant cette époque, et son article ‘The unconscious patterning of behaviour in society,’ est ici discuté, ce qui pose des questions encore sans résponse, lequelles Sapir essay ait de formuler à ce temps‐là.
