SEMINAR SERIES AT THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

'Museum ethnography and the origins of anthropology in the mid-19th century'?

Dr Jonathan King, Von Hügel Fellow, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge

Wednesday 7 October at 5.30 pm

‘Thinking is always the negation of what we have immediately before us’ (Hegel). During the mid-nineteenth century thought was for the first time imposed on ethnographic display. This created a dialectic, or discussion between anthropology and objects, negating all that had come before.  In three places, the British Museum, and the private museums of Henry Christy and William Blackmore, ideas of antiquity and evolution created newly constructed worlds. This development can be compared to the reception and interpretation of the more dominant temporary exhibitions and spectacles of the period, and on the other hand to fictive anthropology.   

This event is free, but tickets must be booked. To book tickets please go to http://jonathanking.eventbrite.co.uk