Time Schedule:
Nathaniel Parker Weston
HIST 498
Seattle Campus
Each seminar examines a different subject or problem. A quarterly list of the seminars and their instructors is available in the Department of History undergraduate advising office.
Class description
In this course, we will examine the early historical practice of ethnology and anthropology in Austria and Germany in the 2nd half of the 19th century in order to understand how it reflected developments at large in their wider societies. We will focus our inquiry specifically on English translations of German-language writings on the Pacific islands and Southeast Asia for insight into themes such as nationalism, colonialism, race-class-gender, at the same time we look at how these themes reflect the historical context of the institutionalization of social sciences in Germany and Austria. By looking at a set list of these primary anthropological sources in concert with particular secondary historical studies, we will attempt to draw connections between events and trends in these two German-speaking societies and the observations that ethnographers, anthropologists, and travel writers make about the peoples, cultures, and institutions indigenous to the Pacific islands and Southeast Asia.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
