Tradition and modernity: The cultural work of Marius Barbeau

Between the establishment of the Anthropology Division of the Geological Survey of Canada in 1910 and the beginning of World War II, the practice of anthropology in Canada was fundamentally reorganized. The professional anthropologists who staffed the division introduced new research methods (intensive fieldwork), new modes of anthropological writing (the synchronic monograph, problem-centered essay, and compilation of primary documents), and a new emphasis on salvage ethnography as the primary focus of Canadian anthropology. Throughout the interwar era, the anthropology division provided a central direction to the development of anthropological discourse in Canada. Its staff conducted most of the research undertaken during these years, wrote most of the anthropological texts, advised the federal state on policy matters, created new guidelines for the conduct of research, and heavily influenced the public perception of anthropology in general and Amerindian and folk culture in particular.;As the most publicly prominent anthropologist of his generation, Marius Barbeau (1883-1969) played an important role in the reorganization of Canadian anthropology. Like his divisional colleagues, Barbeau conceived of his work as an anthropologist as a progressive, scientific development. His professional career illustrates the dynamics of modern anthropology as it evolved in Canada from 1910 until after World War II. He undertook two major ethnographic research projects in the course of his career and almost single-handedly established folk culture studies as a field of scholarly enquiry. More than the other members of the divisional staff, Barbeau also worked to demonstrate the cultural uses of anthropological knowledge and worked to diffuse professional anthropological discourse into the broader processes of modern culture in Canada.;Modern anthropology, as exemplified by Barbeau, was a deeply political process. The progressive, modern development of the science of anthropology was also deeply intertwined with, and part of, the cultural politics of modernity in Canada. In the context of modern Canada, Barbeau's anthropological work created new spheres of scholarly and cultural discourse, established criteria of cultural authority, refashioned images of "traditional" Amerindian and folk cultures, and became an important component of inter-ethnic and intercultural relations. Through the scientific discourse of an important human science, Barbeau helped to make the culture of modern Canada.