The Anthropology of Expeditions: Travel, Visualities, Afterlives

by Erin L. Hasinoff (Editor), Joshua A. Bell (Editor)

Overview

In the West at the turn of the twentieth century, public understanding of science and the world was shaped in part by expeditions to Asia, North America, and the Pacific. The Anthropology of Expeditions draws together contributions from anthropologists and historians of science to explore the role of these journeys in natural history and anthropology between approximately 1890 and 1930. By examining collected materials as well as museum and archive records, the contributors to this volume shed light on the complex social life and intimate work practices of the researchers involved in these expeditions. At the same time, the contributors also demonstrate the methodological challenges and rewards of studying these legacies and provide new insights for the history of collecting, history of anthropology, and histories of expeditions. Offering fascinating insights into the nature of expeditions and the human relationships that shaped them, The Anthropology of Expeditions sets a new standard for the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941792018
Publisher:	Bard Graduate Center
Publication date:	06/15/2015
Series:	Bard Graduate Center - Cultural Histories of the Material World
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	300
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Joshua A. Bell is curator of globalization in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Erin L. Hasinoff is a research associate in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History and teaches in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. 

Table of Contents

Contents Series Editor’s Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: The Anthropology of Expeditions - Erin L. Hasinoff and Joshua A. Bell One. Science as Adventure - Henrika Kuklick Part One. Travel and Assemblage Two. A Most Singular and Solitary Expeditionist: Berthold Laufer Collecting China - Laurel Kendall Three. Adventurers: Race, Love, and the Transmutation of Souls in Joseph Rock’s Arnold Arboretum Expedition to Gansu - Erik Mueggler Part Two. Visualities Four. In the Field/ En Plein Air: The Art of Anthropological Display at the American Museum of Natural History, 1905–30 - Ira Jacknis Five. Sculpting the Network: Recognizing Marguerite Milward’s Sculptural Legacy - Mark Elliott Part Three. Afterlives and Reassemblage Six. The Sticky Afterlives of “Sweet” Things: Performances and Silences of the 1928 USDA Sugarcane Expedition Collections - Joshua A. Bell Seven. The Unexpected Afterlives of Himalayan Collections: From Data Cemetery to Web Portal - Mark Turin Afterword - Chris Gosden Contributors Index

Editorial Reviews

"This is an engaging collection of seven long essays, an introduction and afterword. Written by senior scholars, it provides a useful addition to the literature on a broad panoply of subjects including the motivations and methods behind assembling collections, their dispersals, institutionalisations and usages, and their digital re-mobilisation for empowering source communities."
 

Anthropos