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The first use of the word 'anthropology' in English was recorded in 1593, but its modern use to indicate the study and science of humanity became current in the late nineteenth century. At that time a separate discipline had begun to evolve from many component strands (including history, archaeology, linguistics, biology and anatomy), and the study of so-called 'primitive' peoples was given impetus not only by the reports of individual explorers but also by the need of colonial powers to define and classify the unfamiliar populations which they governed. From the ethnographic writings of early explorers to the 1898 Cambridge expedition to the Torres Straits, often regarded as the first truly 'anthropological' field research, these books provide eye-witness information on often vanished peoples and ways of life, as well as evidence for the development of a new scientific discipline.

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43 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Anthropology

Page 2 of 3

Hawaiki: The Original Home of the Maori
  • With a Sketch of Polynesian History
  • S. Percy Smith
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1910
  • Stephenson Percy Smith (1840–1922) was a New Zealand ethnologist and surveyor. As a young man, he travelled six hundred miles exploring the volcanic interior of North Island, and had many interactions with the Maori population, whose language, history and traditions fascinated him throughout his career as a government surveyor. In 1892 he co-founded the Polynesian Society, in whose journal this study originally appeared. The first book edition was published in 1898, and this third, updated edition in 1910. Using indigenous sources gathered in Polynesia and New Zealand, Smith constructed an elaborate history of the Polynesians, and argued that they were ultimately descended from Aryan ancestors in India. His theory of Maori origins was accepted by several generations of scholars, but was eventually superseded by modern historical and archaeological research. However, his pioneering work, acclaimed in its day, still provides fascinating insights into both nineteenth-century Polynesian culture and colonial ethnography.

Episodes in the Lives of Men, Women, and Lovers
  • Edith Jemima Simcox
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1882
  • Edith Simcox (1844–1901) was a prominent British feminist, social critic and prolific writer. She published many articles and essays advocating support for women's right to education, improved working conditions and suffrage. Her scholarly works in philosophy and economic history sought to demonstrate that contemporary capitalism was not the only route to a prosperous society. Her articles appeared in many periodicals and among her books are Natural Law (1877) and the two-volume Primitive Civilizations (1894), both also reissued in this series. Simcox was an admirer and friend of the novelist George Eliot (1819–80), and her second book, published in 1882, is a collection of essays on a range of subjects, some of which were inspired by events in Eliot's life. Simcox uses her writings to explore melancholy, love, loss and longing through stories and sketches. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=simced

The Amusements of Old London
  • Being a Survey of the Sports and Pastimes, Tea Gardens and Parks, Playhouses and Other Diversions of the People of London from the 17th to the Beginning of the 19th Century
  • Volume 2
  • William Biggs Boulton
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1901
  • Little is known about the life of William B. Boulton, who was active as an author in the 1900s. This illustrated two-volume set, published first in 1901 is perhaps the most famous of his works, though he also wrote biographies of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. The work examines how popular entertainment in London changed dramatically between the restoration of Charles II and the accession of Queen Victoria. From cock-fights and bear-baiting, tastes turned to less bloodthirsty pursuits, and led to the rise of many leisure activities that are still popular today. Volume 2 looks at the growth in popularity of outdoor pursuits in parks and gardens, fairs, the growth of clubs and coffee-houses, and the refinement of boxing from a crude, bare-knuckle contest into something resembling its modern form.

The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions
  • Volume 1, Horo-uta or Taki-tumu Migration
  • John White
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1887
  • First published between 1887 and 1890, this six-volume work, containing Maori texts with English translations and commentary, and engraved illustrations, was one of the first printed records of the oral traditions of the Maori. The project was commissioned by the New Zealand government in 1879 when it was observed that, due to the introduction of European culture and education, indigenous traditions were in danger of dying out. The material was collected by John White (1826–91), an ethnographer, public servant and writer who had arrived in New Zealand as a boy and first began documenting Maori poetry in the 1840s. Volume 1, published in 1887, includes narratives about the Horouta canoe, the first Maori gods and the creation of humans. The preface explains that although by this time many Maori had become Christians, certain passages in the myths were still deemed too sacred (tapu) to be revealed to outsiders.

The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions
  • Volume 5, Tai-nui
  • John White
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1888
  • First published between 1887 and 1890, this six-volume work, containing Maori texts with English translations and commentary, and engraved illustrations, was one of the first printed records of the oral traditions of the Maori. The project was commissioned by the New Zealand government in 1879 when it was observed that, due to the introduction of European culture and education, indigenous traditions were in danger of dying out. The material was collected by John White (1826–91), an ethnographer, public servant and writer who had arrived in New Zealand as a boy and first began documenting Maori poetry in the 1840s. Volume 5, published in 1888, contains narratives about the Tainui migration and describes some of the more violent episodes in Maori history, including famous intertribal wars.

The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions
  • Volume 4, Tai-nui
  • John White
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1888
  • First published between 1887 and 1890, this six-volume work, containing Maori texts with English translations and commentary, and engraved illustrations, was one of the first printed records of the oral traditions of the Maori. The project was commissioned by the New Zealand government in 1879 when it was observed that, due to the introduction of European culture and education, indigenous traditions were in danger of dying out. The material was collected by John White (1826–91), an ethnographer, public servant and writer who had arrived in New Zealand as a boy and first began documenting Maori poetry in the 1840s. Volume 4, published in 1888, focuses especially on the Tainui migration and includes several chapters on Paoa, the legendary ancestor of the Ngatipaoa tribe.

Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders
  • With Illustrations of their Manners and Customs
  • Edward Shortland
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    15 December 2011
    First published in:
    1854
  • This historical and anthropological account of the Maori of New Zealand was published in 1854 by the English physician and colonial administrator Edward Shortland (1812–93). Shortland was deeply interested in Maori culture, learned the language, and wrote ethnographic studies including The Southern Districts of New Zealand (1851) and Maori Religion and Mythology (1882), also included in this series. In various roles including 'Protector of Aborigines', he often served as interpreter, and played an active role in mediating not only between Europeans and Maori, but between different Maori factions. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Shortland's approach was to interact with the Maori rather than merely observe them. In this book, Shortland often cites named Maori individuals as his sources, which makes his treatment of topics such as tapu, land tenure and rites of passage distinctive. He also covers Maori cosmology and origin narratives, genealogies, education, proverbs, songs and spells.

The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions
  • Volume 3, Horo-uta or Taki-tumu Migration
  • John White
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1887
  • First published between 1887 and 1890, this six-volume work, containing Maori texts with English translations and commentary, and engraved illustrations, was one of the first printed records of the oral traditions of the Maori. The project was commissioned by the New Zealand government in 1879 when it was observed that, due to the introduction of European culture and education, indigenous traditions were in danger of dying out. The material was collected by John White (1826–91), an ethnographer, public servant and writer who had arrived in New Zealand as a boy and first began documenting Maori poetry in the 1840s. Volume 3, published in 1887, includes myths of the rainbow god Uenuku, canoe migrations, and legends of the South Island Maori, many of them relating to ancestry, feuds and warfare.

The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions
  • Volume 2, Horo-uta or Taki-tumu Migration
  • John White
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1887
  • First published between 1887 and 1890, this six-volume work, containing Maori texts with English translations and commentary, and engraved illustrations, was one of the first printed records of the oral traditions of the Maori. The project was commissioned by the New Zealand government in 1879 when it was observed that, due to the introduction of European culture and education, indigenous traditions were in danger of dying out. The material was collected by John White (1826–91), an ethnographer, public servant and writer who had arrived in New Zealand as a boy and first began documenting Maori poetry in the 1840s. Volume 2, published in 1887, focuses on narratives including Rona and the Moon, the many exploits of the hero Maui, and the myths of the original canoes, as well as songs, chants and invocations.

The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions
  • Volume 6, Tai-nui
  • John White
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1890
  • First published between 1887 and 1890, this multi-volume chronicle of Maori history and culture was one of the first books to record the oral narratives of the indigenous people of New Zealand. The project were commissioned by the New Zealand government in 1879 when it was observed that, due to the introduction of European culture and education, tribal lore was dying out. The material was collected and recorded by John White (1826–91), an ethnographer and public servant who had been well versed in Maori language and customs from an early age. The stories were printed in both Maori and English. Volume 6, published in 1890, contains additional narratives about the Tainui migration and describes wars both between Maori tribes and against Europeans. It concludes with detailed genealogies of gods, ancestors and humans that were traditionally recited in ritual contexts such as births or burials.

Desert and Water Gardens of the Red Sea
  • Being an Account of the Natives and the Shore Formations of the Coast
  • Cyril Crossland
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1913
  • Cyril Crossland (1878–1943) was Director of the Sudan Pearl Fishery between 1905 and 1922. At this time, the British colonial government had taken charge of running the fishery, with local fishermen as employees. A marine biologist and zoologist, Crossland was praised in his obituary in the journal Nature as 'one of the last explorer-naturalists of the Darwin type'. This book is both an account of his life in the Sudan and a scientific survey of the coral reefs on the Red Sea coast. It offers a lively description of the region, its people and customs, and a clear, accessible explanation of the development of coral reefs. In Crossland's time this region had not been fully mapped by Western explorers and this study was an important contribution to knowledge. The book is illustrated with many of Crossland's own photographs of landscapes and people and his diagrams of the coral reefs.

Primitive Culture
  • Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom
  • Volume 1
  • Edward Burnett Tylor
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1871
  • Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) was an English anthropologist who is widely considered the founder of anthropology as a scientific discipline. He was the first Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oxford from 1896 to 1909, and developed a broad definition of culture which is still used by scholars. First published in 1871, this classic work explains Tylor's idea of cultural evolution in relation to anthropology, a social theory which states that human cultures invariably change over time to become more complex. Unlike his contemporaries, Tylor did not link biological evolution to cultural evolution, asserting that all human minds are the same irrespective of a society's state of evolution. His book was extremely influential in popularising the study of anthropology and establishing cultural evolution as the main theoretical framework followed by anthropologists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Volume 1 focuses on social evolution, language and myth.

The Veddas
  • Charles Gabriel Seligmann, Brenda Zara Seligmann
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    02 November 2010
    First published in:
    1911
  • Dr C. G. Seligmann (1873–1940) was a renowned anthropologist who was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute between 1923 and 1925. After joining the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait in Melanesia in 1898, he changed his career from medicine to anthropology and began his career as a distinguished field anthropologist. This book contains his pioneering ethnology of the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. The social, political, religious and economic life of the Veddas is systematically examined in this detailed study, first published as part of the Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological Series in 1911. This ethnology remains the standard reference work for the social structure and material culture of the Vedda people, as they have ceased to exist as a separate community in Sri Lanka. This volume contains views on ethnicity which were acceptable at the time it was published.

Ethnology of A-Kamba and Other East African Tribes
  • C. W. Hobley
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    02 October 2010
    First published in:
    1910
  • C. W. Hobley (1867–1947) was a colonial administrator who was stationed in Kenya between 1894 and 1921. Following the implementation of Indirect Rule in Kenya, indigenous law and custom were followed in political and judicial proceedings, with the colonial administration requiring a working knowledge of traditional customs. This book contains information collected by C. W. Hobley during his tenure as administrator of Nyanza Province and was first published in 1910 as part of the Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological Series. This detailed ethnography was the first systematic survey of the Kamba people, and provides a comprehensive description of their traditional society, cultural practices and political and economic life. A description of the social organization of the Masai people is also provided. This volume contains views on ethnicity which were acceptable at the time it was first published.

Primitive Culture
  • Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom
  • Volume 2
  • Edward Burnett Tylor
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1871
  • Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) was an English anthropologist who is widely considered the founder of anthropology as a scientific discipline. He was the first Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oxford from 1896 to 1909, and developed a broad definition of culture which is still used by scholars. First published in 1871, this classic work explains Tylor's idea of cultural evolution in relation to anthropology, a social theory which states that human cultures invariably change over time to become more complex. Unlike his contemporaries, Tylor did not link biological evolution to cultural evolution, asserting that all human minds are the same irrespective of a society's state of evolution. His book was extremely influential in popularising the study of anthropology and establishing cultural evolution as the main theoretical framework followed by anthropologists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Volume 2 contains Tylor's interpretation of animism in society.

Kindred and Clan in the Middle Ages and After
  • A Study in the Sociology of the Teutonic Races
  • Bertha Surtees Phillpotts
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1913
  • Bertha S. Phillpotts (1863–1932) was an English historian and linguist of Scandinavia who served as the Director of Scandinavian Studies in the University of Cambridge from 1926 to 1932. First published as part of Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological Series in 1913, this pioneering and highly influential book contains a detailed examination of kinship structures in northern Europe during the early medieval period. In this work, Phillpotts analyses the laws and literature of seven northern European countries to explore the kinship structure of their ancient societies. The references to the legal concept of 'weregild' and the description of gender hierarchies, together with the range of evidence examined, cause this work to remain of considerable relevance for the understanding of kinship systems in medieval Germanic and Scandinavian societies.

The Tribes of Northern and Central Kordofán
  • H. A. MacMichael
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    02 November 2010
    First published in:
    1912
  • H. A. MacMichael (1882–1969) was a member of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan government between 1905 and 1933 and was the deputy Inspector of Kordofan province in Sudan between 1906 and 1912. After combining his administrative duties with ethnographic research, he published this volume as part of the Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnographic Series in 1912: it was the first major ethnographic work on the Sudan. The book combines the history of the province with genealogical information based on interviews MacMichael conducted with local people during his long tenure in Kordofan. The ethnography's focus on local history and the history of different ethnic groups in Kordofan remains the primary source for the local history of the province and the genealogies of the indigenous population. This volume contains opinions on ethnicity which were acceptable at the time it was first published.

Kinship Organisations and Group Marriage in Australia
  • Northcote Whitridge Thomas
  • Published online:
    05 February 2012
    Print publication:
    02 October 2010
    First published in:
    1906
  • N. W. Thomas (1868–1936) was one of the first government anthropologists of the colonial era and published one of the first studies of central African languages. This book, written in the early stages of his career, is a study of kinship structures in indigenous Australian peoples, and was first published as part of the Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological Series in 1906. Thomas develops and defines fundamental anthropological concepts used today – such as consanguinity as a distinct term affecting descent, status and duties in a society – and emphasises the importance of seeing kinship terms as a social description, instead of merely describing biological relationships. His deconstruction of Lewis H. Morgan's theory of social evolution is also of interest for constructing a historiography of social anthropology. This volume contains views on ethnicity which were acceptable at the time it was first published.

The Baganda
  • An Account of their Native Customs and Beliefs
  • John Roscoe
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1911
  • Missionary and amateur anthropologist John Roscoe (1861–1932) published this account of the Baganda tribe of Buganda in 1911, to preserve a record of a sophisticated people before their cultural traditions were undermined as their territory became part of the British Protectorate of Uganda. He had spent twenty-five years in Africa, during which he interviewed the people in their own languages about their customs and religious beliefs. The Baganda is a straightforward survey of a traditionally organised way of life. Birth, upbringing, marriage, death and burial, clans, kings, government, warfare, and other topics are treated in careful detail. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the longest chapter is on religion, but Roscoe makes non-judgmental observations on customs which did not fit with western morality. More recent anthropological research has amplified Roscoe's findings, but has found little to correct, and this remains a standard work on a culture about to undergo a massive transformation.

Primitive Civilizations
  • Or, Outlines of the History of Ownership in Archaic Communities
  • Volume 2
  • Edith Jemima Simcox
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    04 November 2010
    First published in:
    1894
  • Edith Simcox (1844–1901) was a prominent British feminist, social critic, and prolific writer. She published many articles and essays advocating support for women's rights to education, improved working conditions and suffrage. Her scholarly works in philosophy and economic history sought to demonstrate that contemporary capitalism was not the only route to a prosperous society. These volumes, first published in 1897, contain a comparative analysis of the economic history of ancient societies. Simcox discusses and compares aspects of economic history including ownership, industry and commerce, and domestic relations and ownership rights within families, in ancient Egypt, Sumeria and China. Through her comparisons, this pioneering volume examines economic effects on the proprietary rights of women, demonstrating that gender relations and contemporary ideals were not consistent across ancient cultures. Volume 2 contains her discussion of ancient and medieval China. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=simced

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