Abstract

The origins of anthropology lie in expeditionary journeys. But since the rise of immersive fieldwork, usually by a sole investigator, the older tradition of team-based social research has been largely eclipsed. Expeditionary Anthropology argues that expeditions have much to tell us about anthropologists and the people they studied. The book charts the diversity of anthropological expeditions and analyzes the often passionate arguments they provoked. Drawing on recent developments in gender studies, indigenous studies, and the history of science, the book argues that even today, the ‘science of man’ is deeply inscribed by its connections with expeditionary travel.

Amanda Harris is a cultural historian at the University of Sydney whose research explores intercultural exchange, gender, and the performing arts. Amanda’s edited book Circulating Cultures: Exchanges of Australian Indigenous Music, Dance and Media was published in 2014 and her research has also appeared in Women and Music, History and Anthropology, Women’s History Review and Australian Historical Studies.

“This distinctive volume represents a genuinely interesting set of contributions to scholarship in anthropology, literary studies, history, and the history of science.” · Nicholas Thomas, University of Cambridge

“Scholars of exploration and the history of anthropology will find this book very useful—the approach put forward by Thomas and Harris is novel and important.” · Michael F. Robinson, University of Hartford

Martin Thomas is Associate Professor of History at the Australian National University. He has written extensively about anthropology, exploration, and cross-cultural contact. His publications include The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews: In Search of an Australian Anthropologist (2011) and Expedition into Empire: Exploratory Journeys and the Making of the Modern World (2015), with the former winning the National Biography Award of Australia.