Anthropology and antihumanism in Imperial Germany / by Andrew Zimmerman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zimmerman, Andrew.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Anthropology--Germany--History--19th century.

Anthropology.

Humanism--Germany--History--19th century.

Humanism.

Science--Germany--History--19th century.

Science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (376 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

With the rise of imperialism, the centuries-old European tradition of humanist scholarship as the key to understanding the world was jeopardized. Nowhere was this more true than in nineteenth-century Germany. It was there, Andrew Zimmerman argues, that the battle lines of today's "culture wars" were first drawn when anthropology challenged humanism as a basis for human scientific knowledge. Drawing on sources ranging from scientific papers and government correspondence to photographs, pamphlets, and police reports of "freak shows," Zimmerman demonstrates how German imperialism opened the door to antihumanism. As Germans interacted more frequently with peoples and objects from far-flung cultures, they were forced to reevaluate not just those peoples, but also the construction of German identity itself. Anthropologists successfully argued that their discipline addressed these issues more productively-and more accessibly-than humanistic studies. Scholars of anthropology, European and intellectual history, museum studies, the history of science, popular culture, and colonial studies will welcome this book.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part I

Part II

Part IV

CONCLUSION

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 329-356) and index.

ISBN:

9786612505843

9781282505841

128250584X

9780226983462

0226983463

OCLC:

593295580