HAR is pleased to announce a recent release from BEROSE International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology: an article (in English) on ethnography and racial theory in the British India in the late 19th century.
Fuller, Chris, 2022. βEthnography and Racial Theory in the British Raj: The Anthropological Work of H. H. Risleyβ, in BEROSE International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology, Paris.
The systematic anthropology of British India developed alongside the decennial censuses, which started in 1871β2, and its declared purpose was always both βscientificβ and βadministrativeβ : to contribute to modern, European scientific knowledge and also to strengthen and improve British rule. Various labels have been adopted in the literature for colonial anthropologists in India, including βofficial anthropologistsβ, a term that usefully indicates both their status as officials and the fact that their work β βofficial anthropologyβ β was mostly undertaken on behalf of the government. From the middle of the nineteenth century until the First World War, official anthropologists had a virtual monopoly in the field, because very few Indians and very few academics carried out anthropological research in India. The majority of them belonged to the Indian Civil Service (ICS), the elite administrative corps of the British raj, whose members were known as βciviliansβ, and the remainder were members of other government services or army officers. Sir Herbert Risley, a civilian who always signed himself βH. H. Risleyβ, was British Indiaβs pre-eminent official anthropologist, though before 1900 or thereabouts he often called his field βethnologyβ, rather than βanthropologyβ. This biographical article focuses almost entirely on Risleyβs anthropological work and only briefly mentions his duties as a civil servant, which are described in the forthcoming book Anthropologist and Imperialist : H. H. Risley and British India, 1873-1911 on which this article is based.
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