DOCSLIB.ORG

Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology Han F. Vermeulen, Arturo Alvarez Roldan. Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology. European Association of Social Anthropologists. London: Routledge, 1995. xi + 261 S. $130.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-415-10655-9. Reviewed by Wim van Meurs Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (April, 1998) Writing for your own tribe or for the academ‐ as such. S. Woolgar, Science: The Very Idea (Lon‐ ic community? don 1988), pp. 83-111. No doubt, approaching the history of science In the disciplines of ethnology and anthropol‐ is one of the most intellectually challenging parts ogy, the reflexive movement and the ethnological of any academic discipline. And this challenge has method of participant observation have led to pe‐ increased significantly in the past decade or so, culiar effects as far as the history of science is now that the history of science is no longer the concerned: after years and years of studying exot‐ story of Great-Men-Making-Great-Inventions-in-a- ic tribes in the jungle, anthropologists and ethnol‐ Flash-of-Genius.Studies of this kind tended, on the ogists came home and developed an interest in one hand, to ignore the intellectual precursors "home-made" exotic cultures. They began to see and the academic setting of inventions and dis‐ academic institutes or disciplines (including their coveries while, on the other hand, taking the own) as exotic tribes, with rituals, traditions, and sacrosanctity of science for granted and leaving beliefs of their own. aside the Bourdieu-ian aspects of academe. Nowa‐ The compilation 'Fieldwork and Footnotes' is days, moreover, history of science is no longer the product of the second workshop on the histo‐ limited to the history of technology, natural sci‐ ry of European anthropology, part of the confer‐ ences, and medicine. (Although, by the way, the H- ence by the European Association of Social An‐ Net list H-SCI-MED-TECH still tends to uphold this thropologists (EASA) held in Prague, August 1992. definition of the feld.) In the social sciences and A frst-ever workshop on this topic had been part humanities, the history of a discipline used to be of a previous EASA conference in Coimbra in Sep‐ an integral part of the discipline itself. For the tember 1990. The History of European Anthropol‐ most part, history of science was a practical help ogy Network and its newsletter, initiated for the and a starting point for future research, rather third workshop in Oslo June 1994, seem to have than a reflection on the why and how of science lead a marginal existence since. The sixteen con‐ H-Net Reviews tributors of the book are from Spain, Scotland, be an expert in this subdiscipline or has to have Germany, Mexico, Romania, Sweden, Denmark, read the whole book attentively before. Poland, Slovenia, the Netherlands, the Czech Re‐ The frst part of the book discusses the early public, and Hungary. Their short biographies al‐ origins of ethnography and its institutionalization ready outline the subject of the book and the in Europe and the United States, as well as its paradoxes of European anthropology. The names philosophical and historical roots, in four chap‐ of their institutes range from "social and/or cul‐ ters. The frst chapter by Michael Harbsmeier up‐ tural anthropology" to "anthropology and history" holds the fction of a debate on the origins of an‐ to "ethnology and (cultural) anthropology" or thropology. Like the editor in his introduction, he even "comparative culture studies" (pp. vii-viii). too admits that one's dating of the beginnings of The introduction by the two editors is a good anthropology is bound to be influenced by the example for explaining my ambiguity towards concept of anthropology one uses: Is it a Begriffs‐ this book. The introduction and the issues it raises geschichte of "ethnology" and its equivalents, the - the question of the origins and periodization of institutionalization in the nineteenth century, or anthropology and the institutional development is it the much older European habit of "some kind of anthropology (a.k.a. ethnology) in Europe - of eye-witness observation [...] and the art of de‐ whet the appetite of the reader. Nevertheless, this scribing 'other' cultures and societies"? (p. 20). introduction (and the book as a whole) might The other two chapters in this part - the one have been much more readable if the editors and on the philosophical roots and Hegel by Gheorghi‐ authors had kept in mind that the history of an‐ ta Geana and the one on historical roots and the thropology is a minor subdiscipline, chief occupa‐ works of Adolf Bastian by Klaus-Peter Koepping - tion for only a few. The pace and depth of their es‐ again have all the characteristics of a scientific pa‐ says suggest that they tend to forget this, although per presented for a small inner circle of special‐ they said so themselves in their acknowledg‐ ists. Again, the approaches are interesting, but for ments, that this book is "a small independent a chapter in a book one might have wished to see place to exchange their ideas [on the history of some didactic concessions to the reader. European anthropology]." Therefore, a more ex‐ The second part of the book introduces some tensive contextualization for the general anthro‐ well-chosen great anthropologists and their fa‐ pological reader might have been appropriate. vorite objects of study as stepping stones in the The current introduction is bound to confuse your development of anthropological thinking. The ordinary mortal: The existence of a debate on the chapter by Alan Barnard on Lord Monboddo and developmental stages of anthropology is suggest‐ the "nobility" of the Orang Outang discusses ques‐ ed, but it is not borne out by the rest of the book. tions of the sociability of mankind and the rela‐ The editor Vermeulen, moreover, later on admits tion between animal and man. Monboddo (like that it is just a word game; as long as one distin‐ Rousseau) accepted the idea that Orang Outangs guishes between the raising of anthropological were essentially human, as intellect, not speech, questions and the institutionalization of anthro‐ was their defining characteristic of mankind. An‐ pology, there is "a consensus on the main stages other chapter in this part which made some fasci‐ that a chronological scheme of the history of an‐ nating reading is Jan de Wolf's essay on H.J. thropology should cover" (p. 7). The second ques‐ Nieboer and the study of slavery, although the di‐ tion of the introduction (on institutionalization) is dactic problem pops up again. Having used two approached by the editor Roldan from such an an‐ pages for his bibliography, De Wolf has fourteen gle and using so much detail that one either has to pages left to make his argument: "While it is com‐ 2 H-Net Reviews monplace knowledge that the emphasis on the and a fnal chapter on the paradoxes of the histo‐ collection of primary data contributed to the new‐ ry of anthropologies of Europe. Tomas Gerholm ly emerging functionalist paradigm early in this argues that while Swedish anthropology (defined century, it is less well known that secondary anal‐ as the discipline dealing with non-European peo‐ ysis through systematic comparison of many dif‐ ples and societies) was peripheral in the interna‐ ferent societies could have a similar anti-evolu‐ tional community of anthropologists, ethnology tionist effect. In this chapter I should like to much less so because of the international stand‐ demonstrate this through the work of the Dutch ing of Sigurd Erixon (1888-1938). He argued that scholar H.J. Nieboer (1873-1920) on slavery." European ethnology should be part of general eth‐ Rather than using this limited space to make a nology (i.e., anthropology). Nevertheless, two sep‐ clear and consistent argument, De Wolf feels he arate disciplines became consolidated in Sweden, should also "contextualize this work in relation to and both follow the lead of the international cen‐ his [Nieboer's] mentor Steinmetz as well as to ters, rather than working with their colleagues some broader political and economic issues and next door. their social policy implications" (p. 113). This The next two chapters deal with anthropology leaves him all of four pages to demonstrate his in Slovenia and Poland. With all due respect, the views on Nieboer and slavery. history of the discipline in these two states in the He then distinguished between two traditions twentieth century presupposes a separate chapter in Dutch anthropology: Wilken and the study of on the development of anthropology in Russia native peoples of the Dutch East Indies, Steinmetz and the USSR which is not really as unknown and and the theoretical concerns with savages as a undocumented as the editors seem to suggest, . specific category of human being, as well as the See, for instance, 'Soviet and Western Anthropolo‐ implications for the study of one's own society. gy', ed. E. Gellner (London: 1980) or W. van Meurs, Steinmetz searched for laws as descriptive regu‐ "Ethnographie in der USSR: Jaeger oder Sammler? larities and empirical generalizations of develop‐ in: 'Inszenierung des Nationalen', eds. B. Binder, P. mental stages. From this perspective, colonial peo‐ Niedermueller (Berlin 1998), forthcoming. al‐ ples represented the closest thing at hand for the though the influence of Soviet ethnography on study of early developmental stages of mankind. East European academic traditions might be (p. Nieboer, being Steinmetz' student, applied the 10). In the Soviet Union, the name of the game methodological ideas of his professor in his dis‐ was "ethnography" and it has been on the rise sertation on slavery, focusing on sociological laws ever since the 1960s (under Bromley) and basical‐ of current phenomena rather than on the early ly even since Sergei Tolstov became director of history of mankind.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Karl Von Den Steinen's Ethnography in the Context of the Brazilian Empire
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2238-38752017v828 1 Campinas State University (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil [email protected] Erik PetscheliesI KARL VON DEN STEINEN’S ETHNOGRAPHY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE BRAZILIAN EMPIRE aug, 2018 aug, 569, may.– 569, – 1 Karl von den Steinen sociol. antropol. | rio de janeiro, v.08.02: 543 | rio de janeiro, antropol. sociol. karl von den steinen’s ethnography in the context of the brazilian empire 544 INTRODUCTION The Swedish ethnologist Erland Nordenskiöld (1877-1932) described his friend and professional colleague Karl von den Steinen (1855-1929) as the “doyen of ethnographic explorers of South America” ​​in an obituary published in the Jour- nal de la Société des Américanistes (Nordenskiöld, 1930: 221).1 Von den Steinen undertook the first two exploratory trips to the Xingu River basin (in the Brazil- ian Amazon), formerly considered terra incognita: the first in 1884, the second between 1887 and 1888. In addition to this “extremely remarkable journey from a geographical point of view,” Karl von den Steinen, Nordenskiöld proceeded, was able to “discover a region of America, where the Indians had not yet abso- lutely suffered the influence of the civilization of the white men, and he was able to take full advantage of this discovery from a scientific point of view.” In short, “for his profound studies of the civilization of the Xingu tribes, Karl von den Steinen’s travels have been extraordinarily useful to exploration. If one flicks through any book on ethnography, history, religion, psychology or the history of cultivated plants, one always finds his name and often a few lines of this genius who inspired whole treatises about the other” (Nordenskiöld, 1930: 222).
    [Show full text]
  • Ernst Haeckel's Embryological Illustrations
    Pictures of Evolution and Charges of Fraud Ernst Haeckel’s Embryological Illustrations By Nick Hopwood* ABSTRACT Comparative illustrations of vertebrate embryos by the leading nineteenth-century Dar- winist Ernst Haeckel have been both highly contested and canonical. Though the target of repeated fraud charges since 1868, the pictures were widely reproduced in textbooks through the twentieth century. Concentrating on their first ten years, this essay uses the accusations to shed light on the novelty of Haeckel’s visual argumentation and to explore how images come to count as proper representations or illegitimate schematics as they cross between the esoteric and exoteric circles of science. It exploits previously unused manuscripts to reconstruct the drawing, printing, and publishing of the illustrations that attracted the first and most influential attack, compares these procedures to standard prac- tice, and highlights their originality. It then explains why, though Haeckel was soon ac- cused, controversy ignited only seven years later, after he aligned a disciplinary struggle over embryology with a major confrontation between liberal nationalism and Catholicism—and why the contested pictures nevertheless survived. INETEENTH-CENTURY IMAGES OF EVOLUTION powerfully and controversially N shape our view of the world. In 1997 a British developmental biologist accused the * Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RH, United Kingdom. Research for this essay was supported by the Wellcome Trust and partly carried out in the departments of Lorraine Daston and Hans-Jo¨rg Rheinberger at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. My greatest debt is to the archivists of the Ernst-Haeckel-Haus, Jena: the late Erika Krauße gave generous help and invaluable advice over many years, and Thomas Bach, her successor as Kustos, provided much assistance with this project.
    [Show full text]
  • Pictures of Evolution and Charges of Fraud: Ernst Haeckel's Embryological Illustrations
    Pictures of Evolution and Charges of Fraud: Ernst Haeckel’s Embryological Illustrations Author(s): Nick Hopwood Source: Isis, Vol. 97, No. 2 (June 2006), pp. 260-301 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/504734 . Accessed: 18/06/2014 22:26 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and The History of Science Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Isis. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.34.79.49 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 22:26:41 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Pictures of Evolution and Charges of Fraud Ernst Haeckel’s Embryological Illustrations By Nick Hopwood* ABSTRACT Comparative illustrations of vertebrate embryos by the leading nineteenth-century Dar- winist Ernst Haeckel have been both highly contested and canonical. Though the target of repeated fraud charges since 1868, the pictures were widely reproduced in textbooks through the twentieth century. Concentrating on their first ten years, this essay uses the accusations to shed light on the novelty of Haeckel’s visual argumentation and to explore how images come to count as proper representations or illegitimate schematics as they cross between the esoteric and exoteric circles of science.
    [Show full text]
  • II. a Certain Inheritance: Nineteenth Century German Anthropology
    II. A Certain Inheritance: Nineteenth Century German Anthropology In the context of Spencer and Gillen’s work, and also that of Howitt (1904) for example, two questions should be posed of Carl Strehlow’s text. First, how might one explain his lack of engagement with anthropological debates on the origins and evolution of indigenous Australians? Second, what explains Strehlow’s quite particular focus on myth and song among the Aranda and Loritja when the work of his contemporaries tends to move, in a British vein, from origins, to social organisation, to rite? Strehlow, it might be argued, had little contact with his British-Australian contemporaries. Neither Spencer nor Gillen rated the Lutheran Strehlow highly as a colleague or consultant. Gillen’s interaction with Strehlow as a scholar was minimal. Spencer’s dismissal of Strehlow’s scholarship was advertised widely which Strehlow junior answered in his own masterwork, Songs of Central Australia (1971: xv, xvi, xx–xxxviii). In addition, Frazer’s long list of consultants around Australia makes it clear that he chose Spencer as his Aranda source, not Strehlow. Perhaps then, Strehlow’s text was simply the product of an isolated missionary, distant from professional or mainstream scholarship. Again, as a missionary bent on the task of conversion, possibly he was required to maintain a Christian humanism. Concern with the history or evolutionary stage of the lower human ranks could not sit happily with proselytising. Strehlow was a missionary rather than an academic. However, he received his Christian education within the context of nineteenth century German humanism. Although the Lutherans sustained their own distinctive tradition of scholarship and missionary work, they were also part of a broader German intellectual milieu deeply influenced by historical particularism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Meeting Point of American Anthropology and Serbian Ethnology
    University of Massachusetts Amherst From the SelectedWorks of Joel M. Halpern 2008 Serbian Village Culture: The eM eting Point of American Anthropology and Serbian Ethnology Mirjana Prosic-Dvornic This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY-NC International License. Available at: https://works.bepress.com/joel_halpern/136/ Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia Studying Peoples in the People's Democracies II Socialist Era Anthropology in South-East Europe Edited by Vintila Mihailescu, Ilia Iliev and Slobodan Naumovic Folclor Etnografie AHTponoreorpa4)MJa Socio-kulturno antropologija LIT Studying Peoples in the People's Democracies II Socialist Era Anthropology in South-East Europe This volume is a follow up to volume 8 of this series, which explored socialist era anthropology in East-Central Europe. On this occasion the countries investigated are Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia. In all three the discipline (irrespective of its local fragmentation) originated and developed as a 'nation-building science'. Scholars drew on the model of German Volkskunde and there was little or no interest in com- parative Volkerkunde researches. The contributors to this volume outline how this intellectual endeavor was af- fected by formally internationalist but in substance deeply national versions of so- cialism. Anthropologists were able by and large to nurture and sustain their special relationship to the nation under dramatically altered conditions, reacting more or less skillfully to fluctuating political pressures and eventually finding a secure niche for themselves in 'national communism'. Even though it was not instrumentalized in the same way by politicians and cultural officials, this national communism was found throughout the region.
    [Show full text]
  • John Eidson Senior Research Fellow Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle 4 September 2008
    John Eidson Senior Research Fellow Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle 4 September 2008 Country Report – Germany German equivalents of “anthropology” (and when terms were coined) • Anthropologie (16th to 18th century • Völkerkunde (18th century) • Volkskunde (18th century) • Ethnologie (18th century) • Ethnographie (18th century) • Kulturwissenschaft Meaning of the terms since the 19th century • Anthropologie: human biology or philosophical anthropology • Völkerkunde, Ethnologie: ethnology primarily of non-European peoples • Volkskunde: national ethnography and study of “folk” literary genres in Germany Institutionalization of Anthropologie, Völkerkunde, and Volkskunde in late 19th and early 20th century through the founding of … • learned societies • journals • museums • Dozenturen, professorships, university departments Example with reference to Völkerkunde or Ethnologie – Adolf Bastian • 1868 – Bastian, a physician, gentleman scholar, world traveler, and collector of cultural artifacts, became assistant curator for the ethnographic and prehistoric collections in the königliches Museum in Berlin. • 1869 – Bastian (who had completed the Habilitation two years earlier) became Dozent für Völkerkunde at the University of Berlin – the first Dozentur in ethnology in Germany. • 1869 – Bastian, together with Robert Hartmann, founded the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. • 1869 – Bastian, together with Rudolf Virchow and others, founded the Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte. The founding of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte followed in 1870. 2 • 1873 – Bastian was instrumental in the first phase of the founding of an independent Völkerkundemuseum in Berlin. • 1886 – The Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde zu Berlin was opened to the public, with Bastian as director. During this period, Franz Boas served in the museum as assistant curator, before departing for his new field site in British Columbia.
    [Show full text]
  • Doing Anthropology in Wartime and War Zones
    Reinhard Johler, Christian Marchetti, Monique Scheer (eds.) Doing Anthropology in Wartime and War Zones Histoire | Band 12 Reinhard Johler, Christian Marchetti, Monique Scheer (eds.) Doing Anthropology in Wartime and War Zones. World War I and the Cultural Sciences in Europe Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deut- sche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de © 2010 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reprodu- ced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover layout: Kordula Röckenhaus, Bielefeld Cover illustration: The Hamburg anthropologist Paul Hambruch with soldiers from (French) Madagascar imprisoned in the camp in Wünsdorf, Germany, in 1918. Source: Wilhelm Doegen (ed.): Unter Fremden Völkern. Eine neue Völkerkunde. Berlin: Stollberg, 1925, p. 65. Proofread and Typeset by Christel Fraser and Renate Hoffmann Printed by Majuskel Medienproduktion GmbH, Wetzlar ISBN 978-3-8376-1422-0 Distributed in North America by: Transaction Publishers Tel.: (732) 445-2280 Rutgers University Fax: (732) 445-3138 35 Berrue Circle for orders (U.S. only): Piscataway, NJ 08854 toll free 888-999-6778 Acknowledgments Financial support for the publication of this volume was provided by the Collaborative Research Centre 437: War Experiences – War and Society in Modern Times, University of Tübingen, Germany. Techni- cal support was provided by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin.
    [Show full text]
  • Mcgee-Warms Anthropological Theory 6E Preview Pak.Pdf
    This is an uncorrected, not typeset preview of Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History, Sixth Edition © Rowman & Littlefield, forthcoming in July 2016 Anthropological Theory An Introductory History Sixth Edition R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • London This is an uncorrected, not typeset preview of Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History, Sixth Edition © Rowman & Littlefield, forthcoming in July 2016 Senior Editor: Leanne Silverman Assistant Editor: Carli Hansen Senior Marketing Manager: Karin Cholak Marketing Manager: Deborah Hudson Cover Designer: Sally Rinehart Credits and acknowledgments for material borrowed from other sources, and reproduced with permission, appear on the appropriate page within the text. Published by Rowman & Littlefield A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB, United Kingdom Copyright © 2017 by Rowman & Littlefield All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cloth ISBN-13: 978-1-4422-5701-6 ISBN-10: 1-4422-5701-6 Paper ISBN-13: 978-1-4422-5702-3 ISBN-10: 1-4422-5702-4 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
    [Show full text]
  • Van Meurs on Vermeulen and Roldan, 'Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology
    H-SAE van Meurs on Vermeulen and Roldan, 'Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology. European Association of Social Anthropologists' Review published on Tuesday, March 31, 1998 Han F. Vermeulen, Arturo Alvarez Roldan. Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology. European Association of Social Anthropologists. London: Routledge, 1995. xi + 261 S. $44.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-415-10656-6; $130.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-415-10655-9. Reviewed by Wim van Meurs (Free University of Berlin & Centrum fuer Angewandte Politikforschung Munich) Published on H-SAE (March, 1998) Writing for your own tribe or for the academic community? No doubt, approaching the history of science is one of the most intellectually challenging parts of any academic discipline. And this challenge has increased significantly in the past decade or so, now that the history of science is no longer the story of Great-Men-Making-Great-Inventions-in-a-Flash-of- Genius. Studies of this kind tended, on the one hand, to ignore the intellectual precursors and the academic setting of inventions and discoveries while, on the other hand, taking the sacrosanctity of science for granted and leaving aside the Bourdieu-ian aspects of academe. Nowadays, moreover, history of science is no longer limited to the history of technology, natural sciences, and medicine. (Although, by the way, the H-Net list H-SCI-MED-TECH still tends to uphold this definition of the field.) In the social sciences and humanities, the history of a discipline used to be an integral part of the discipline itself.
    [Show full text]
  • Koeppingklaus-Peter-Adolf-Bastian-And-The-Psychic-Unity-Of-Mankind-The-Foundations-Of
    Book Reviews rates and mortality among the under-fives? There is not one reference to vaccination for smallpox. Are these peripheral issues? The most interesting chapter of the book is the discussion of attitudes and assumptions shaping social policy. Mayne shows how cultural judgements, in a "criss-crossing of perception with reality" (p. 112), influenced the process by which the more privileged classes of society organized the less privileged. But futher demographic data would have allowed a better understanding of the problems involved. For example, did immigrant arrivals tend to remain in the area since it lay so near the docks; what nationalities were represented; and how mobile was the city's population? The study, in fact, repeatedly begs the question-"Did Sydney, because of its geography and relative youth, differ from other Victorian cities?" On the technical level, the plethora of names, the lack of a clear street map, and cumbersome sentence construction, often leave the reader hanging. This account of Sydney's slums could have been of more than local interest through the questions it raises. As a study in nineteenth-century public health, it is disappointing. Helen R. Woolcock University of Western Ontario, Canada KLAUS-PETER KOEPPING, Adolf Bastian and the psychic unity of mankind. The foundations of anthropology in nineteenth-century Germany, St. Lucia, London, and New York, University of Queensland Press, 1984, 8vo, pp. xviii, 272, $32.50. Adolf Bastian looms as a large but shadowy figure in the history of anthropology. He ceased being widely read, even in his own country, long before death stilled his rambling octogenarian pen in 1906, and his thousands of published pages have since gone virtually unturned.
    [Show full text]
  • The Connectenedness of Archives: Museums in Brazil and Europe a Conexão Dos Arquivos: Museus No Brasil E Na Europa
    The Connectenedness of Archives: Museums in Brazil and Europe A conexão dos arquivos: museus no Brasil e na Europa Manuela Fischer Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Germany [email protected] Adriana Muñoz Världskulturmuseet (The Museum of World Culture), Göteborg, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9645-5015 [email protected] Abstract: The destruction of the collections at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, which had hosted indigenous material culture gathered over two centuries, spotlighted the impor- tance of early Amazonian collections in European museums. The circulation of objects and knowledge in the 19th and the early 20th century is part of a history of interactions within global systems. Epistemological, political, social and economic aspects shaped the collec- tions, following shifting interests related to scientific endeavors, colonization or extractivism, just to name the more common ones. The agents involved in the collecting in the South American Lowlands were scholars from different disciplines, settlers, politicians and traders linked by global interests. The close relationship of the then Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin and the Göteborgs Museum in Gothenburg with the Museu Nacional and other Brazilian institutions since the 1880s is striking, as they mutually engaged in the exchange of objects for major exhibitions and enriched the scientific exchange of knowledge, by sending and interchanging collections. Today, these objects stored in Berlin as well as in Gothenburg, could be incorporated into the reconstruction of the Museu Nacional, or directly could be put in dialogue with communities in the 21st century. These collections were gathered with many purposes; however, from the beginning in Berlin with Adolf Bastian, and in Gothen- burg with Erland Nordenskiöld, the idea of an archive for the future was a primal one.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Anthropological Discourse on the Inuit and the Influence of Virchow on Boas"
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Érudit Article "Early anthropological discourse on the Inuit and the influence of Virchow on Boas" Rainer Baehre Études/Inuit/Studies, vol. 32, n° 2, 2008, p. 13-34. Pour citer cet article, utiliser l'information suivante : URI: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/038213ar DOI: 10.7202/038213ar Note : les règles d'écriture des références bibliographiques peuvent varier selon les différents domaines du savoir. Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter à l'URI https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l'Université de Montréal, l'Université Laval et l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. Érudit offre des services d'édition numérique de documents scientifiques depuis 1998. Pour communiquer avec les responsables d'Érudit : [email protected] Document téléchargé le 12 février 2017 06:20 Early anthropological discourse on the Inuit and the influence of Virchow on Boas Rainer Baehre* Résumé: Le premier discours anthropologique sur les Inuit et l’influence de Virchow sur Boas Cet article examine le contexte anthropologique de l’étude de Rudolf Virchow concernant deux familles inuit du Labrador présentées durant l'exposition ethnographique (Völkerschau) de Berlin en 1880 et la façon dont celle-ci reflètait le discours de l’époque sur les Inuit en tant que «race».
    [Show full text]