Before Boas: The Genesis of Ethnography and Ethnology in the German Enlightenment

747 Pages·2015·28.258 MB·English

by  Han F. Vermeulen

before boas
Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology
series editors
Regna Darnell
Stephen O. Murray
BEFORE BOAS
The Genesis of Ethnography
and Ethnology in the
German Enlightenment
han f. vermeulen
University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln & London
© 2015 by Han F. Vermeulen
Some of the data and interpretations herein appeared in articles
written in English, German, French, Dutch, and Russian that are
listed in the references, especially material in chapters 4, 5, and 6,
which was published in a different form in: Anthropology and Colonialism
in Asia and Oceania, edited by Jan van Bremen and Akitoshi Shimizu
(Richmond, UK: Curzon Press, 1999); and The German Invention of Race,
edited by Sara Eigen and Mark Larrimore (Albany ny: suny Press, 2006).
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Vermeulen, Han F., 1952–
Before Boas: the genesis of ethnography and ethnology
in the German Enlightenment / Han F. Vermeulen.
pages cm.— (Critical studies in the history of anthropology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0 - 8032- 5542- 5 (hardback: alk. paper)
isbn 978- 0- 8032- 7738- 0 (epub)
isbn 978-0 - 8032- 7739- 7 (mobi)
isbn 978-0 - 8032- 7740-3 (pdf)
1. Ethnology— Germany—H istory— 18th century.
2. Anthropology—G ermany—H istory— 18th century.
3. Enlightenment— Germany. 4. Germany—
Intellectual life— 18th century. 5. Ethnology— Philosophy.
6. Ethnology— Europe—H istory. 7. Ethnology—
Russia—H istory. 8. Boas, Franz, 1858–1942—I nfluence. I. Title.
gn308.3.g3v37 2015
306.0943'09033— dc23
2015012611
Set in Adobe Caslon Pro by L. Auten.
For my parents
and their parents
The arts and sciences are the true treasure of humankind.
— G. W. Leibniz to Peter the Great (1712)
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is Man.
— Alexander Pope (1733–3 4)
Mein mehrfacher Wunsch war es, daß eine erfahrene Person . . .
den Versuch übernehmen möge, eine ganz allgemeine Völkerbe-
schreibung zu verfassen und daß [dadurch] . . . eine gewisse neue
Wissenschaft begründet werden möge, von der die
Nachwelt einen ewigen Nutzen erwarten könnte.
— Gerhard Friedrich Müller (1744– 45)
Les lois, les coutumes et les divers usages de tous les peuples de la terre.
— Charles- Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1748)
Die edelste Beschäftigung des Menschen ist der Mensch.
— Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1753)
Toute la terre est couverte de nations dont nous ne
connoissons que les noms, & nous nous
mêlons de juger le genre humain!
— Jean- Jacques Rousseau (1755)
It is in their present condition, that we are to behold,
as in a mirrour, the features of our own progenitors.
— Adam Ferguson (1767)
The compilation of a systema populorum in classes and
orders, genera and species is possible.
—August Ludwig Schlözer (1771)
Ethnologia . . . est notitia gentium populorumque.
— Adam František Kollár (1783)
It is important to look at an age or country in its own point of view.
— Thomas Arnold (1842)
It is my opinion that the main object of ethnological collections
should be the dissemination of the fact that civilization is not something
absolute, but that it is relative, and that our ideas and conceptions are
true only so far as our civilization goes.
— Franz Boas (1887)
L’anthropologue est l’astronome des sciences sociales.
— Claude Lévi- Strauss (1954)
Ethnography is . . . the Anthropologist’s Muse.
— Ioan M. Lewis (1973)
The proper object of history is not the past
but the past-p resent-f uture relationship.
— Jennifer Robertson (1991)
Each nation is basically a collection of immigrants.
— Trevor Phillips (2003)

contents
List of Illustrations xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Series Editors’ Introduction xxi
1. History and Theory of Anthropology and Ethnology:
Introduction 1
2. Theory and Practice: G. W. Leibniz and the
Advancement of Science in Russia 39
3. Enlightenment and Pietism: D. G. Messerschmidt
and the Early Exploration of Siberia 87
4. Ethnography and Empire: G. F. Müller and the
Description of Siberian Peoples 131
5. Anthropology and the Orient: C. Niebuhr and the
Danish- German Arabia Expedition 219
6. From the Field to the Study: A. L. Schlözer
and the Invention of Ethnology 269
7. Anthropology in the German Enlightenment:
Plural Approaches to Human Diversity 357
8. Epilogue: Reception of the German
Ethnographic Tradition 395
Conclusion 437
Notes 459
References Cited 515
Index 689