Headhunting and Colonialism: Anthropology and the Circulation of Human Skulls in the Portuguese Empire, 1870–1930 PDF
Preview Headhunting and Colonialism: Anthropology and the Circulation of Human Skulls in the Portuguese Empire, 1870–1930
CambridgeImperialandPost-ColonialStudiesSeries General Editors: Megan Vaughan, Kings’ College, Cambridge and Richard Drayton, CorpusChristiCollege,Cambridge Thisinformativeseriescoversthebroadspanofmodernimperialhistorywhilealso exploringtherecentdevelopmentsinformercolonialstateswhereresiduesofempire canstillbefound.Thebooksprovidein-depthexaminationsofempiresascompet- ingandcomplementarypowerstructuresencouragingthereadertoreconsidertheir understandingofinternationalandworldhistoryduringrecentcenturies. Titlesinclude: SunilS.Amrith DECOLONIZINGINTERNATIONALHEALTH IndiaandSoutheastAsia,1930–65 TonyBallantyne ORIENTALISMANDRACE AryanismintheBritishEmpire RobertJ.Blyth THEEMPIREOFTHERAJ EasternAfricaandtheMiddleEast,1858–1947 RoyBridges(editor) IMPERIALISM,DECOLONIZATIONANDAFRICA StudiesPresentedtoJohnHargreaves L.J.Butler COPPEREMPIRE MiningandtheColonialStateinNorthernRhodesia,c.1930–64 HilaryM.Carey(editor) EMPIRESOFRELIGION T.J.Cribb(editor) IMAGINEDCOMMONWEALTH CambridgeEssaysonCommonwealthandInternationalLiteratureinEnglish MichaelS.Dodson ORIENTALISM,EMPIREANDNATIONALCULTURE India,1770–1880 UlrikeHillemann ASIANEMPIREANDBRITISHKNOWLEDGE ChinaandtheNetworksofBritishImperialExpansion B.D.Hopkins THEMAKINGOFMODERNAFGHANISTAN RonaldHyam BRITAIN’SIMPERIALCENTURY,1815–1914 AStudyofEmpireandExpansion ThirdEdition RobinJeffrey POLITICS,WOMENANDWELL-BEING HowKeralabecamea‘Model’ GeroldKrozewski MONEYANDTHEENDOFEMPIRE BritishInternationalEconomicPolicyandtheColonies,1947–58 SloanMahoneandMeganVaughan(editors) PSYCHIATRYANDEMPIRE JavedMajeed AUTOBIOGRAPHY,TRAVELANDPOST-NATIONALIDENTITY FrancineMcKenzie REDEFININGTHEBONDSOFCOMMONWEALTH1939–1948 ThePoliticsofPreference GabrielPaquette ENLIGHTENMENT,GOVERNANCEANDREFORMINSPAINANDITSEMPIRE 1759–1808 JenniferRegan-Lefebvre IRISHANDINDIAN TheCosmopolitanPoliticsofAlfredWebb RicardoRoque HEADHUNTINGANDCOLONIALISM AnthropologyandtheCirculationofHumanSkullsinthePortugueseEmpire, 1870–1930 MichaelSilvestri IRELANDANDINDIA Nationalism,EmpireandMemory JohnSingletonandPaulRobertson ECONOMICRELATIONSBETWEENBRITAINANDAUSTRALASIA1945–1970 KimA.Wagner THUGGEE BanditryandtheBritishinEarlyNineteenth-CenturyIndia JonE.Wilson THEDOMINATIONOFSTRANGERS ModernGovernanceinEasternIndia,1780–1835 CambridgeImperialandPost-ColonialStudiesSeries SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–0–333–91908–8(Hardback) 978–0–333–91909–5(Paperback) (outsideNorthAmericaonly) Youcanreceivefuturetitlesinthisseriesastheyarepublishedbyplacingastanding order.Pleasecontactyourbookselleror,incaseofdifficulty,writetousattheaddress belowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesandtheISBNquotedabove. CustomerServicesDepartment,MacmillanDistributionLtd,Houndmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS,England Headhunting and Colonialism Anthropology and the Circulation of Human Skulls in the Portuguese Empire, 1870–1930 Ricardo Roque ResearchFellow,InstituteofSocialSciences,UniversityofLisbon ©RicardoNunoAfonsoRoque2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-2205-2 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6-10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2010by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-30758-6 ISBN 978-0-230-25133-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230251335 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 In memory of my grandparents Leonel Roque and Mário Afonso This page intentionally left blank Contents IllustrationsandMaps viii Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations xii Glossary xiii Introduction 1 Part I EncounterswithParasites 1 ParasitisminColonialInteractions 17 2 TheOrderofCeremonialGovernment 40 3 TheCirculatorySystemofColonialHeadhunting 70 Part II SkullsandHistories 4 TrajectoriesofHumanSkullsinMuseumCollections 103 5 HumanSkullsasAnthropologicalObjects 127 6 HistoriesandClassificationinTimoreseAnthropology 152 7 CollectingandtheDramasofColonialHostility 183 Conclusion 216 Notes 226 Bibliography 297 Index 323 vii Illustrations and Maps Illustrations 1 Representationofheadhuntingasindigenoussavageryin colonialwars,1930 28 2 JoséCelestinodaSilva.GovernorofTimor,1894–1908 29 3 PortuguesearmysergeantsinEastTimor,c.1895 30 4 EastTimoresewarrior,c.1900 32 5 PortuguesediplomagrantingtherankofColoneltoa Timoreseruler,1895 57 6 Comandomilitar(militarypost),c.1900 61 7 PortugueseofficersandthearraiaisatBalibó,1895 73 8 Lorosa’echant,c.1910s 80 9 EnemyskullsinthestonewallsofaTimoresefortress, c.1910s–30s 82 10 Portugueseofficers,Timoreseirregulars,andwarprisoners, c.1900 86 11 ThearraialofMaubara,c.1900 89 12 ThearraialofLiquiçá,c.1900 90 13 ThearraialofLiquiçá,displayingtheseveredheadsof enemies,c.1900 91 14 SkullswithoutwordsinthecataloguepreparedatMacao,1882 117 15 ThecollectionofcraniaattheCoimbraAnthropological Museum 145 16 AclassofanthropologyatCoimbraUniversity,c.1895–96 147 17 Wallace’srepresentationofTimormenasPapuans 157 18 EduardoInáciodaCâmara,1894 185 19 TheburialoftheheadofcaptainCâmarainLisbon,1897 196 20 ‘Montanheses’(mountaininhabitants),c.1927 207 Maps 1 EastTimor 2 2 SoutheastAsia,Timor,andtheethnologicallines 155 3 TheWesternKingdomsandthejourneyofcaptainCâmara andhismenin1895 188 viii Acknowledgements This book has many origins. One of them may be set in Lisbon, in 1999, when wandering through the streets I witnessed several public demonstra- tions against the brutality of the militias and the Indonesian military, in the aftermath of the referendum for the independence of East Timor. My curiosityonthisoccasioninspiredmetotrytounderstandviolenceinTimor and its historical connections with the Portuguese presence. In addition, a remark by a former Portuguese colonial officer, a relative of the late gov- ernor Celestino da Silva, at an early stage of my research was also a key trigger for this project. He had read the manuscript reports of the 1895–96 campaigns,whichhecontinuestokeepcarefullyaspartoffamilyarchives: ‘Look,Doutor’,hesaidtome,‘ThePortugueseweresofew;theTimoreseso many.Howcould“we”haveremainedinTimorsomanyyears?’Theques- tion,andthepossibilityofsearchingforananswer,ignitedmyhistoricaland anthropologicalimagination. Thecentralmysteryofthisbook—thequestionoftheauthenticityofthe skulls at Coimbra University—first grabbed my attention as I encountered a lengthy paper of 1937. This put me on the track of this fascinating col- lection and the interlaced histories of scientific collecting and indigenous headhunting, in ways that I would not have predicted. The uncertainty of thiscollection’sprovenanceandthemysterythatitfedonethnologicaldis- cussion in the 1930s–40s became my own historical enigma and forms the storylineofthisbook.In2003,thethemesofthepossessionandrepatriation ofhistoricalhumanremainsinBritishmuseumstookcentrestageinpublic debate.IfIhadnotbeenintheUnitedKingdominthisperiod,mypercep- tion of the wider implications of skull collecting for world history, and of the contemporary significance of historicizing the colonial past of human remainscollections,wouldnothavecomeintobeing. SeveralpeoplehelpedlaythefoundationsofthebookandIcanonlyhope thatnoneofthemwillbeomittedhere.InCambridge,thisbookstartedas a doctoral dissertation in history approved in 2007. I am indebted, first of all,tomysupervisor,ChristopherBayly.Theexampleofhisscholarshiphas been a constant inspiration, and without his unceasing and generous sup- port, and his challenging comments and criticism, this study would never have been completed. I also owe a great deal to Diogo Ramada Curto for encouragementandadviceintheinitialstagesofthisproject.InCambridge, Richard Drayton has offered precious guidance and enthusiastic support in manyimportantwaysovertheyears.Forcommentsandconversationsthat significantly shaped this work, I am grateful to Rosalind O’Hanlon, Simon Schaffer,andMeganVaughan.Intheexaminationofthethesisfromwhich ix
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