The Race Question in Oceania : A.B. Meyer and Otto Finsch between metropolitan theory and field experience, 1865-1914

Hilary Howes

doi:10.3726/978-3-653-03392-2

The Race Question in Oceania : A.B. Meyer and Otto Finsch between metropolitan theory and field experience, 1865-1914

Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review

Abstract

In 1873 the German naturalist A.B. Meyer spent five months in New Guinea. He had expected Â«bloodthirsty and untamed savagesÂ» and was amazed to find Â«men of milder customsÂ». His compatriot Otto Finsch returned from a voyage through Hawaii, Micronesia, New Zealand and Torres Strait declaring Germanys most respected anthropologists wrong. Human races could not be neatly distinguished: they Â«merge into one another to such an extent that the difference between Europeans and Papuans becomes completely unimportantÂ». This richly interdisciplinary book explores the transformative impacts of personal encounters in Oceania on understandings of human difference, and illuminates the difficult relationship between field experience and metropolitan science in late nineteenth-century Europe.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Frankfurt am Main
Publisher	The Peter Lang Publishing Group
Volume	1
Edition	1st
ISBN (Print)	9783653033922
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-03392-2
Publication status	Published - 2013

Publication series

Name	Germanica Pacifica

Access to Document

10.3726/978-3-653-03392-2

Cite this

@book{15a556d4d45146d6a5fe10754642c914,

title = "The Race Question in Oceania : A.B. Meyer and Otto Finsch between metropolitan theory and field experience, 1865-1914",

abstract = "In 1873 the German naturalist A.B. Meyer spent five months in New Guinea. He had expected {\^A}«bloodthirsty and untamed savages{\^A}» and was amazed to find {\^A}«men of milder customs{\^A}». His compatriot Otto Finsch returned from a voyage through Hawaii, Micronesia, New Zealand and Torres Strait declaring Germanys most respected anthropologists wrong. Human races could not be neatly distinguished: they {\^A}«merge into one another to such an extent that the difference between Europeans and Papuans becomes completely unimportant{\^A}». This richly interdisciplinary book explores the transformative impacts of personal encounters in Oceania on understandings of human difference, and illuminates the difficult relationship between field experience and metropolitan science in late nineteenth-century Europe.",

author = "Hilary Howes",

year = "2013",

doi = "10.3726/978-3-653-03392-2",

language = "English",

isbn = "9783653033922",

volume = "1",

series = "Germanica Pacifica",

publisher = "The Peter Lang Publishing Group",

edition = "1st",

}

TY - BOOK

T1 - The Race Question in Oceania : A.B. Meyer and Otto Finsch between metropolitan theory and field experience, 1865-1914

AU - Howes, Hilary

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - In 1873 the German naturalist A.B. Meyer spent five months in New Guinea. He had expected Â«bloodthirsty and untamed savagesÂ» and was amazed to find Â«men of milder customsÂ». His compatriot Otto Finsch returned from a voyage through Hawaii, Micronesia, New Zealand and Torres Strait declaring Germanys most respected anthropologists wrong. Human races could not be neatly distinguished: they Â«merge into one another to such an extent that the difference between Europeans and Papuans becomes completely unimportantÂ». This richly interdisciplinary book explores the transformative impacts of personal encounters in Oceania on understandings of human difference, and illuminates the difficult relationship between field experience and metropolitan science in late nineteenth-century Europe.

AB - In 1873 the German naturalist A.B. Meyer spent five months in New Guinea. He had expected Â«bloodthirsty and untamed savagesÂ» and was amazed to find Â«men of milder customsÂ». His compatriot Otto Finsch returned from a voyage through Hawaii, Micronesia, New Zealand and Torres Strait declaring Germanys most respected anthropologists wrong. Human races could not be neatly distinguished: they Â«merge into one another to such an extent that the difference between Europeans and Papuans becomes completely unimportantÂ». This richly interdisciplinary book explores the transformative impacts of personal encounters in Oceania on understandings of human difference, and illuminates the difficult relationship between field experience and metropolitan science in late nineteenth-century Europe.

U2 - 10.3726/978-3-653-03392-2

DO - 10.3726/978-3-653-03392-2

M3 - Book

SN - 9783653033922

VL - 1

T3 - Germanica Pacifica

BT - The Race Question in Oceania : A.B. Meyer and Otto Finsch between metropolitan theory and field experience, 1865-1914

PB - The Peter Lang Publishing Group

CY - Frankfurt am Main

ER -

The Race Question in Oceania : A.B. Meyer and Otto Finsch between metropolitan theory and field experience, 1865-1914

Abstract

Publication series

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this