商品簡介
Hillary S. Howes has written volume 12 of the Germanica Pacific series on the response of Victorian German traveler-naturalists A.B. Meyer and Otto Finsch to meeting the people of Oceania. Both Meyer and Finsch were players in the era's "race question" debates about the comparative humanity of the world's peoples; both developed their ideas in European metropolitan centers and then met the actual people during field research; their encounters with real human beings and societies altered their ideas in major ways (Howes considers them precursors of Franz Boas). While they both profited as professional authorities due to their field experience, their changed ideas had little influence with their peers in Europe in a less flexible social climate than in the generations either before or after them. The book covers the years between 1865 and 1914. It is a highly revised and expanded PhD thesis, based on extensive primary research into German-language texts by Meyer, Finsch, and their contemporaries, with additional research in Dutch, English, French, Latin, and Russian. There is a professional scholarly bibliography. Appendices give the dates of Meyer's and Finsch's voyages and biographies of key figures mentioned in the text. Black and white maps and illustrations are included throughout the book. It will be of interest to historians of science and society, and to general readers with a strong scholarly interest in either the history of Victorian exploration or of Euro-American ideas about race. Annotation c2014 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
作者簡介
Hilary Susan Howes completed her PhD in the School of Culture, History and Language at the Australian National University. She has published and taught on environmental history, history of science and Pacific history at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne.
