Julian Steward

Julian Steward founded the anthropological subfield of cultural ecology in the mid-20th century. This discipline examines how human cultural beliefs and practices adapt to their local environmental conditions.

Introduced as a departure from earlier, rigid theories of universal human progress, multilinear evolution argues that human cultures evolve along distinct, parallel paths. Steward believed these paths are determined by the specific environmental and technological constraints faced by a society.

Steward is highly recognized for his extensive research on the Shoshone people of the Great Basin in the United States. His book, *Theory of Culture Change*, details how the harsh desert environment heavily shaped their social and economic structures.

Steward spent a significant portion of his prominent academic career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also held a highly influential teaching position at Columbia University, where he mentored a generation of post-WWII anthropologists.