Anthropology and Antihumanism in Imperial Germany

Andi Zimmerman

Published by University of Chicago Press 2001

Anthropology and Antihumanism in Imperial Germany

Andi Zimmerman

https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226983462

Overview
Contents

About this book

With the rise of imperialism, the centuries-old European tradition of humanist scholarship as the key to understanding the world was jeopardized. Nowhere was this more true than in nineteenth-century Germany. It was there, Andrew Zimmerman argues, that the battle lines of today's "culture wars" were first drawn when anthropology challenged humanism as a basis for human scientific knowledge.

Drawing on sources ranging from scientific papers and government correspondence to photographs, pamphlets, and police reports of "freak shows," Zimmerman demonstrates how German imperialism opened the door to antihumanism. As Germans interacted more frequently with peoples and objects from far-flung cultures, they were forced to reevaluate not just those peoples, but also the construction of German identity itself. Anthropologists successfully argued that their discipline addressed these issues more productively—and more accessibly—than humanistic studies.

Scholars of anthropology, European and intellectual history, museum studies, the history of science, popular culture, and colonial studies will welcome this book.

Author / Editor information

Andrew Zimmerman is an assistant professor of history at George Washington University.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Part II Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Part III
Part IV Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
CONCLUSION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
NOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	329
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	357

Language: English
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 372
Illustrations
- Other: 52 halftones, 21 line drawings
Keywords: anthropologist; anthropological; german; europe; european; academic; scholarly; history; research; historical; tradition; humanism; humanist; scholarship; imperalism; 19th century; 1800s; time period; culture; cultural; science; scientific; knowledge; government; letters; photographs; pamphlet; police; museum; colonial; higher ed; college; university; textbook; major; empiricism; republic; fieldwork; artifacts

eBook

Published: February 15, 2010
ISBN: 9780226983462