REVIEW ESSAY

Rednecks, Eggheads and Blackfellas: a study of racial power and intimacy in Australia. By Gillian Cowlishaw Sydney: Allen and Unwin. 1999. Pp. xix + 352. Figures, Maps, Photos & Index $35     

Lebens‐Geschichte ‐ Wissenschafts‐Geschichte. Vom Nutzen der Biographie für Geschichtswissenschaft und Wissenschaftsgeschichte

Biography as a genre of historiography had been dismissed for some years, criticized for being conservative, resistant to theoretical approaches, and hostile to methodological innovations. But the predominance of a historiography devoted to structures, functions, and statistics has, however, led to a renewed interest in the human factor in history. This paper argues that the pluralism of methods and theories which has emerged thereafter reopened the case for an innovative biography, thus facilitating the convergence of general history and the history of science.     

“The Enchanter's Wand”: Charles Darwin,Foreign Missions,and the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle*

It often goes unmentioned that one of the primary purposes of the famous circumnavigation of H.M.S. Beagle was foreign missions. Charles Darwin, the voyage's most famous participant, was at best noncommittal about the missionary activity surrounding him for most of the trip. He emerged from the voyage, however, as an enthusiastic and outspoken proponent of missions. The British missions at Tahiti prompted him to change his view. Sailing to Tahiti, he read several accounts about the South Sea missions, and had already begun making arrangements to publish his “Diary” as a travel journal. Darwin became convinced that missionaries helped “advance” the natives toward “civilization” and thereafter enthusiastically defended missionaries in an ongoing public debate.