Settler colonialism and the transformation of anthropology : the politics and poetics of an ethnographic event / Patrick Wolfe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wolfe, Patrick, 1949-

Series:

Writing past colonialism series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Anthropology--Australia--History.

Anthropology.

Anthropology--Australia--Philosophy.

Racism in anthropology--Australia.

Racism in anthropology.

Aboriginal Australians--Public opinion.

Aboriginal Australians.

Public opinion--Australia.

Public opinion.

Philosophy.

History.

Australia.

Imperialism.

Frontier and pioneer life--Australia.

Frontier and pioneer life.

Australia--Foreign relations.

International relations.

Physical Description:

246 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Cassell, 1999.

Summary:

This is a brilliant history of anthropology from its origins in 19th century Europe to the present day. Underlying this and closely connected to this meta-narrative is the story of European settlement and colonialization of Australia and the distressing history of Australian official policy towards the Australian aboriginal population (other colonial enterprises are also examined; for instance, the book incorporates a discussion of the late 19th century development of American cultural anthropology and its relation to the European settlement of North America). He shows how anthropological theory emerged from the political and intellectual culture of Victorian England (and to a lesser extent Germany and the United States) and examines its relationship to science, particularly evolutionary science.

This book is an analytic tour de force that will be of interest to socio-cultural anthropologists, historians of ideas, social and cultural geographers and post-colonial theorists.

Contents:

Introduction Text and Context: Anthropology and Settler Colonialism 1

Chapter 1 White Man's Flour: Virgin Birth in Anthropology and in Australian Settler Discourse 9

Chapter 2 Science, Colonialism and Anthropology: the Logic of a Global Transformation 43

Chapter 3 Mother-Right: Sex and Property in Victorian Anthropology 69

Chapter 4 Totemism Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Victorian Anthropology's Eternal Dichotomy 106

Chapter 5 Survival in a Paradigm Shift: E.B. Tylor and the Problem of the Text 129

Chapter 6 Repressive Authenticity 163.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [215]-241) and index.

ISBN:

0304703397

0304703400

OCLC:

39078989