A racial triangle: physical anthropology and race theories between Germans,Jews and Poles

The last decades of the nineteenth century saw a growing prominence of German racial sciences. This article documents how East Central European scholars responded to their potential marginalization within the scientific community due to German racial theories in the field of physical anthropology and the popularization of science. Three personalities represent a sample of this variety: Ludwik Gumplowicz, a Polish-Jewish sociologist; Mateusz Mieses, a Galician Jewish amateur anthropologist; and Jan Czekanowski, professor of anthropology and spiritus rector of the Lwów school of anthropology. All three cases illustrate the contradictions inscribed into the concept of transnationalism. To varying extents, they belonged to the German-speaking scientific community, through which they gained access to international science. Their reactions to anti-Jewish and anti-Slavic positions among the dominant racial theories of their time shines light on the tensions which were present within the academic community, as well as on the tensions that appeared between their own (semi-)professional status, self-perception and their group identities. The international communication and contacts came into conflict with the exclusionary philosophy of racial theories, thus perpetually challenging their transnational position. The responses of these actors sought to redefine spatial and methodological frameworks amid the dominant discourses. Each making attempts in their own way, they aimed at reversing what they perceived as aberrations of racial theories while persistently remaining within this discourse.     

Language in anthropology

William C. McCormack and Stephen A. Wurm, eds. Language and Thought. Anthropological Issues. The Hague, Paris, Mouton Publishers, 1977, 533 pp.     

The “tribal spirit” in modern Britain: evolution,nationality, and race in the anthropology of Sir Arthur Keith

ABSTRACT

This article re-examines the anthropological scholarship of Sir Arthur Keith (1866–1955), who served as the president of the Royal Anthropological Institute (1914–1917), the Royal Anatomical Society (1918), and the British Association of the Advancement of Science (1927), who wrote prolifically on anatomy, evolution, and the idea of race. While most commonly associated with the Piltdown man hoax, Keith's contributions to the discipline were far greater and more complex. This essay specifically considers how Keith sought to problematize the concept of the nation, considering the nation-state as an evolutionary unit. The first half of this essay examines Keith's theories on the mechanism of evolution (hormonal instincts) and how this informed his ideas of races and nations as evolutionary units. The second half of the essay considers how Keith deployed his ideas about evolutionary instincts, with the goal of advising Britons about how an evolutionary perspective would help understand, if not resolve, modern political challenges, both international and domestic, that faced the British Empire around the time of the First World War.     

Determinants of divorce in nineteenth-century Flanders

In 1830, the year Belgium became independent, there were four divorces in Belgium. From about 1870 to 1910, there were about one hundred divorces per year, and since 1910, there have been about 1,000. The aim of this research is to investigate the factors that played a role in the increase in the number of divorces in Belgium in the course of the nineteenth century. The research relates to information from four Flemish municipalities for the period 1800-1913. Results indicate that an explanation of the rising divorce rate can be sought in the psychological and social consequences of the more pronounced shift in marriage, gender and family expectations. Increasing numbers of women threw themselves more and more into their gender-specific expressive gender role, whereas the objective opportunities and attainability of this role did not increase commensurately. The result was role strain: high marriage and family expectations soon come up against intrinsic limitations. As a result of this, both individual and general frustration increased, and this was an ideal social substratum for facilitating divorce.     

The anthropology of modernization and the modernization of anthropology

John J. Poggie, Jr. and Robert N. Lynch, eds. Rethinking Modernization. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1974. xii + 405 pp. Tables, illustrations, maps, figures, bibliography, and index. $15.95.     

Caricatures of clergymen in nineteenth-century Sweden

This article investigates caricatures of clergymen in the nineteenth-century Church of Sweden. It offers the first attempt in Sweden to study these images as an enduring historical source. As case study, six caricatures of bishops from 1790–1870 will be analysed in terms of both their motifs and their significance. The bishops have been selected as the object of study because of their visibility as ex officio members of Parliament and leaders of the clergy. It is argued that graphic satire was used as a medium to criticise the bishops' influential position in the government and their defence of the Parliament of the Estates. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that as the techniques used to produce caricatures improved during the period, the images were more widely spread and had a greater impact on Swedish society. Finally, it is shown that caricature in Sweden reached a peak in the middle of the nineteenth century thanks to the extended debate on parliamentary reform and restrictions on press freedom.     

Restudy in economic anthropology

T. Scarlett Epstein. South India: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1973. xv + 273 pp. Maps, tables, bibliography, and index. $15.00.     

Archiving anthropology in Portugal

This article examines some of the issues surrounding archiving in anthropology. It provides an account of archiving in the Portuguese context and seeks to problematize anthropology archives, contributing to the as yet timid debate over this question in the field. There are various ways of recording ethnographies and saving the ensuing records. Anthropologists often reflect on their archives, but rarely make these reflections public. Nor do we know much about what anthropologists in general plan to do with their fieldnotes, diaries, images, maps, drawings, audio and video recordings and objects, once a specific research project is complete. How do anthropologists store their data? What should be done with these materials? What stories can they tell? Will the ethnographic materials produced in the present be considered historical archives in the future?     

Waging anthropology in Bolivia

William J. McEwen. Changing Rural Society: A Study of Communities in Bolivia. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975. xiv + 463 pp. Maps, illustrations, figures, appendices, bibliography and index. $15.95 (cloth) and $7.95 (paper).     

Myths in political anthropology

Lewellen, Ted C. Political Anthropology, An Introduction. South Hadley, Mass.: Bergin & Garvey Publishers Inc., 1983. 192 pp. Bibliography, Index, Illustrations. $22.95 cloth, $10.95 paper.     

Histories of anthropology

Timothy H. H. Thoresen, ed. Toward A Science of Man: Essays in the History of Anthropology. The Hague and Paris: Mouton Publishers, 1975. Distributed in North America by Aldine Publishing Company, vii + 232 pp. Biographical notes and indices. $14.95.