Problem of (proto)national - ethnic - regional identities of Jesuit missionaries from Central Europe in America
In: Working paper series of the Centre for Area Studies No. 5
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In: Working paper series of the Centre for Area Studies No. 5
In: Ibero-Americana Pragensia
In: Supplementum 21
Literaturverz. S. 246 - 264
In: Brésil(s): sciences humaines et sociales, Heft 4
ISSN: 2425-231X
In: Annals of the Náprstek Museum, Band 42, Heft 1, S. 29-48
ISSN: 2533-5685
Julius Nestler, high school teacher and amateur archaeologist from Prague, brought home more than 3,500 archaeological and anthropological artifacts from his expedition to Bolivia (1909–1912). At present they are in the possession of the Náprstek Museum in Prague. a smaller corpus of human bones, especially skulls, some deformed (elongated) and/or trepanned, were deposited at the Hrdlička Museum of Man (Charles University in Prague). Nestler's second collection has not, so far, received much attention from anthropologists, museologists or historians of science, one of the reasons probably being the fact that there is no preserved documentation as to its provenance. Sources dispersed in several archives and publications made it possible to ascertain Nestler's motivation for collecting human remains, the location where he collected them, and the circumstances of their sale to Charles University. The article also aspires to insert the collection and its original owner into the broader context of anatomical and anthropological disciplinary practices in the Czech Lands in the first decades of the 20th century.
In: Ethnologia actualis: the journal of ethnographical research, Band 20, Heft 2, S. 20-45
ISSN: 1339-7877
Abstract
The ethnographic shows of the end of the 19th century responded to an increased hunger for the exotic, especially among the bourgeois classes in Europe and North America, and to the establishment of both physical and cultural anthropology as scientific disciplines with a need for study material. At the same time they served as a manifestation of European superiority in the time of the last phase of colonialist thrust to other continents. "Scientific colonialism" reached also to regions without actual colonial or imperial ambitions, as the story of Labrador Inuit who visited Prague during their tour of Europe in November 1880 will prove. The reactions of local intellectuals and the general public to the performances of the "savages" will be examined in the context of the Czech and German nationalist competition and the atmosphere of colonial complicity. Thanks to the testimony of a member of the group, Abraham Ulrikab, supplemented by newspaper articles and other sources, it is possible to explore the miscommunication arising from the fact that the Inuit were members of the Moravian Church, professing allegiance to old Protestant tradition in the Czech Lands and cultivating a fragmented knowledge of Czech history and culture.
In: New West Indian guide: NWIG = Nieuwe west-indische gids, Band 94, Heft 1-2, S. 194-195
ISSN: 2213-4360
A case study of the history of exploration of the archaeological locality known as Quirigua, in the lowlands of Guatemala, serves as a starting point for more general considerations on the nature of archaeology as a scientific discipline in its wider social and political context. Archaeology had been, since its commencement in the 19thcentury, under the influence of the reigning ideologies of the day, nationalism and imperialism, and this strongly shaped the nature of the research and the presentation of its outcomes; not to mention many other diverse factors, such as institutional competition and personal ambitions, that reflected on the scientific endeavors. On the basis of the case of Quiriguá, the possessive attitude of the early explorers (John Stephens, Alfred Mauldsay etc.) and the subsequent domination of the site by the United Fruit Company, as well as the aspirations of North American scientific institutions (School of American Archaeology, Carnegie Foundation) are explored with respect to the interpretations of the pre-Colombian Maya civilization coined by them. The present text does not aspire to a thorough analysis of the problem of relations between nationalism, imperialism and archaeology in Latin America, but rather a presentation of one specific case illustrative of the basic premise of the necessity to always take into account the broader context in which the scientific "truths" are produced. ; Estudiar la historia de las exploraciones arqueológicas de la localidad de Quiriguá, Guatemala, sirve como un punto de partida hacia reflexiones más generales sobre la naturaleza de la disciplina arqueológica, ayudando a situarla en un contexto sociopolítico mucho más amplio. Desde sus inicios en el siglo XIX, la arqueología se ha encontrado bajo la influencia de las ideologías hegemónicas de la época, el nacionalismo y el imperialismo. Estas influencias moldearon la naturaleza de la investigación arqueológica y las presentaciones de sus resultados; sin mencionar algunos otros factores como la competencia institucional y las ambiciones personales de quienes llevaban a cabo las investigaciones, que también se vieron reflejadas en las labores científicas de las expediciones. Específicamente en el caso de Quiriguá, la actitud posesiva de los primeros exploradores (John Stephens, Alfred Mauldsay, etc.) y el subsecuente dominio que ejerció la compañía United Fruit en la zona, así como las aspiraciones de diferentes instituciones científicas estadounidenses (como la School of American Archaeology o la Carnegie Foundation, por decir algunas), son analizadas respecto a las interpretaciones que generaron sobre la civilización maya precolombina. El presente texto no aspira a ser un análisis exhaustivo de los problemas que la relación entre el nacionalismo, el imperialismo y la arqueología, causaron en Latinoamérica; sino la mera presentación de un fenómeno que ayude a ilustrar la necesidad de considerar siempre el contexto político, social y cultural en el que se producen las "verdades" científicas.
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In: Ethnologia actualis: the journal of ethnographical research, Band 18, Heft 1, S. 42-67
ISSN: 1339-7877
Abstract
The present article represents a partial outcome of a larger project that focuses on the history of the beginnings of anthropology as an organized science at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, in the broader socio-political context of Central Europe. Attention is focused especially on the nationalist and social competitions that had an important impact upon intellectual developments, but in turn were influenced by the activities of scholars and their public activities. The case study of Vojtěch (Alberto) Frič, traveler and amateur anthropologist, who in the first two decades of the twentieth century presented to European scientific circles and the general public in the Czech Lands his magnanimous vision of the comparative study of religions, serves as a starting point for considerations concerning the general debates on the purpose, methods, and ethical dimensions of ethnology as these were resonating in Central European academia of the period under study.
In: Ethnologia actualis: the journal of ethnographical research, Band 17, Heft 1, S. 89-106
ISSN: 1339-7877
Abstract
The basis for the present article is the case study of Julius Nestler, amateur archaeologist from Prague, who at the beginning of the twentieth century pursued excavations in the ruins of Tiahuanaco and brought to Prague a unique collection of about 3,600 pieces, deposited now in the Náprstek Museum in Prague. His activities are put into the broader context of the origins of Americanist archaeology and anthropology in Central Europe, against a background of nationalist competition and economic entrepreneurship. The life story of Nestler also brings to the fore the problem of ethics in anthropological and archaeological work.
In: Kleinstaaten und sekundäre Akteure im Kalten Krieg
In: Annals of the Náprstek Museum, Band 37, Heft 2, S. 17-32
ISSN: 2533-5685
The text aims to present the broader context and biography of Julius Nestler, an amateur archaeologist from Prague, who at the beginning of the twentieth century pursued excavations in the ruins of Tiahuanaco/Tiwanaku and brought to Prague a unique collection of about 3,600 pieces, now deposited in the Náprstek Museum in Prague. A biographical study of Nestler has revealed his wide interests. During the period of Czech-German competition in Bohemia he promoted "German science". He cooperated with entrepreneurial groups in Germany that were trying to penetrate Latin America economically, as a Freemason actively capitalised on a transnational community of associates; and at the same time was an adherent to and propagator of occultism. All these facets of his personality shaped his activities in the recently-established field of Americanist archaeology.
Central Europe and the Non-European World in the Long 19th Century explores various ways in which inhabitants of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy perceived and depicted the outside world during the era of European imperialism. Focusing particularly on the Czech Lands, Hungary, and Slovakia, with other nations as comparative examples, this collection shows how Central Europeans viewed other regions and their populations, from the Balkans and the Middle East to Africa, China, and America. Although the societies under Habsburg rule found themselves (with rare exceptions) outside the realm of colonialism, their inhabitants also engaged in colonial projects and benefited from these interactions. Rather than taking one "Central European" approach, the volume draws upon accounts not only by writers and travelers, but by painters, missionaries, and other observers, reflecting the diversity that characterized both the region itself and its views of non-Western cultures.
In: EntreDiversidades: revista de ciencias sociales y humanidades, Band 6, Heft 2, S. 171-201
ISSN: 2007-7610