Career
He was the first theoretician of the Vienna School of Ethnology. Graebner advanced a theory of diffusion of culture (Kulturkreise) which became the basis of a culture-historical approach to ethnology. His theories had influence for a time in the field of ethnology, and were also propounded by Franz Boas, Clark Wissler and Paul Kirchhoff.
He was in Australia attending an anthropological conference when World War I broke out in 1914, and due to accusations of having hidden certain sensitive documents he was not allowed to leave Australia for the duration of the war.