NEW BOOK TALK: Franz Boas: In Praise of Open Minds by Noga Arikha, November 11, London

At the Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London. Tuesday, November 11, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Join us for a conversation with Noga Arikha about her new biography of Franz Boas: In Praise of Open Minds. This event aims to introduce Boas’s ideas, outline their genesis in Germany, their impact in the US and beyond – and their continuing relevance today. This accessible intellectual biography traces Boas’s life and scientific passions, from his roots in Germany and his move to the United States in 1884, partly in response to growing antisemitism in Germany, to his work with First Nations communities and his influential role as a teacher, mentor, and engaged activist who inspired an entire generation. The book pays particular attention to Boas’s ethnographic and museum work, as well as his connections with Aby Warburg, founder of the Warburg Institute. Noga Arikha will discuss her book with John Tresch, professor of history of art, science, and folk practice and HAR co-editor.

IN PERSON: ATTENDANCE FREE, PLEASE REGISTER HERE:

https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/news-events/events/noga-arikha-franz-boas-2025

Noga Arikha is a philosopher and historian of ideas trained at the Warburg Institute, with a PhD on the life sciences and mind-body relation in early modern Europe. She now works as a “science humanist,” fostering dialogues on the embodied sense of self between neuroscientists, psychologists, clinicians, social scientists, humanists and artists. She is currently a Senior Expert at the Florence School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute (EUI), within the Horizon Europe grant ScaleDem: Scaling Democratic Innovation, and developing a program on “Emotions in Politics.” She is the author of numerous essays, and her previous books include The Ceiling Outside: The Science and Experience of the Disrupted Mind, an exploration of brain, self, dementia and medicine based on the stories of neuropsychiatric patients (Basic Books, 2022) and Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2007).

Supported by Yale University Press.

ATTENDANCE FREE WITH ADVANCE BOOKING.

https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/news-events/events/noga-arikha-franz-boas-2025