ABSTRACT
Diffusionism holds that the phenomenon of diffusion of cultural elements forms the principle by which civilizations develop. Inspired by museological techniques for the classification of artefacts and the analysis of stylistic affinities, diffusionist methods acquired definition in Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century and won a large following in the USA and Great Britain after the First World War. In this way the label ‘diffusionism’ came to be applied to three principal currents of thought, each corresponding to a ‘national’ tradition. The first, German tradition, known as Kulturgeschichte (cultural history), was conceived by its adherents as a discipline unto itself, and the Cologne geographer F. Graebner is considered to be its founder. The second, American tradition was initiated in part by Boas and took the form of historical particularism, and it was practised by, among others, the first generation of Boas’s students. American diffusionism, typified by the work of. C. Wissler, was moderate and had geographically limited ambitions. The third, British tradition led to the movement’s climax in the hyperdiffusionism of G. E. Smith and W. J. Perry. Using various types of evidence these writers tried to prove that the origin of all cultures was to be found in ancient Egypt, whereas until then neither evolutionary theory nor visions of the psychic unity of mankind could account for where and when it happened.
