| The focus of this dissertation is the late Adda von Bruemmer Bozeman. Utilizing biography as the vehicle, I trace her personal, academic, and professional history. By exploring her family's noble heritage and her own past, I seek to explain the profound influence of Adda Bozeman's early experiences as an East European refugee on the development of her acclaimed intellectual position regarding the crucial value of culture in the international arena.; Professor Bozeman refined her theoretical stance during half a century, most of it in some aspect of academia. Devoting her career to multidisciplinary research, writing, and teaching about the historical interrelationship between culture and statecraft, she explored the disparate Lebensanschauungen (life views) generated by divergent cultural histories, especially as they affect security and intelligence in the transient political systems. She viewed thorough comparative historical and cultural studies as critical to formulating successful strategy in foreign affairs.; It is a multicultural world of the ‘self’ distinct from the ‘other,’ but American academics and officials failed to follow this dictum, contended Professor Bozeman. Instead, the country naively and arrogantly adhered to the illusory premise of undifferentiated mankind, prompting her to condemn the United States foreign policy campaigns ceaselessly infused with the concept of individual rights and democratic practices, which spelled failure when aimed at groups whose perspectives diverged drastically from Western thinking.; Earning some renown for incorporating the historical dimension in the study of international relations during the discipline's nascent years, Professor Bozeman analyzed contemporary political international actions only after investigating the histories and cultures of the nations involved. Her explorations won her recognition eventually for targeting both Western and non-Western systems, especially in comparative intelligence studies. Yet, perhaps due to her intellectual stringency or the professional consequences of her particular personality, the fame she sought eluded her.; Research materials for the project included thousands of pages of primary source documents from the Adda von Bruemmer Bozeman Collection archived at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Interviews I conducted to obtain impressions directly from colleagues, students, relatives, friends, and acquaintances proved crucial in complementing invaluable archival resources and her numerous publications. |
