Expeditionary Anthropology

The origins of anthropology lie in expeditionary journeys. But since the rise of immersive fieldwork, usually by a sole investigator, the older tradition of team-based social research has been largely eclipsed. Expeditionary Anthropology argues that expeditions have much to tell us about anthropologists and the people they studied. The book charts the diversity of anthropological expeditions and analyzes the often passionate arguments they provoked. Drawing on recent developments in gender studies, indigenous studies, and the history of science, the book argues that even today, the ‘science of man’ is deeply inscribed by its connections with expeditionary travel.

Martin Thomas is Professor of History at the Australian National University and Co-Director of the Menzies Australia Institute at King’s College London. His publications include The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews: In Search of an Australian Anthropologist (2011) and Expedition into Empire: Exploratory Journeys and the Making of the Modern World (2015), with the former winning the National Biography Award of Australia.

Amanda Harris is Senior Research Fellow at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney and Director of the Sydney Unit of the digital archive PARADISEC (Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures). Her book Representing Australian Aboriginal Music and Dance 1930-70 was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2020. Her edited book Circulating Cultures: Exchanges of Australian Indigenous Music, Dance and Media was published in 2014.

“Martin Thomas and Amanda Harris’s edited volume makes important steps towards understanding the history of the sociopolitical formations that are embedded in, and around, the idea of the expedition.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)

“Expeditionary Anthropology emerges as an extraordinary book, with unexpected insights that demonstrate the vitality and relevance of the sub-disciplinary field of the history of anthropology. There is no doubt that it deserves a place on the bookshelves of every scholar interested in the subject.” • The Journal of Pacific History

“This distinctive volume represents a genuinely interesting set of contributions to scholarship in anthropology, literary studies, history, and the history of science.” • Nicholas Thomas, University of Cambridge

“Scholars of exploration and the history of anthropology will find this book very useful—the approach put forward by Thomas and Harris is novel and important.” • Michael F. Robinson, University of Hartford