Cambridge and the Torres Strait
Centenary Essays on the 1898 Anthropological Expedition

Anita Herle (Edited by), Sandra Rouse (Edited by)

9780521103862, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 December 2008

272 pages, 71 b/w illus. 6 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

Torres Strait has an established place in the history of anthropology because of its association with the Cambridge University Expedition of 1898 organised by A. C. Haddon. This early British anthropological expedition is regarded as a seminal event in the formation of academic anthropology in Britain. Its goal was to make an unprecedentedly comprehensive anthropological study embracing ethnology, physical anthropology, psychology, linguistics, sociology and ethnomusicology. The nine interdisciplinary essays in this centenary volume offer ways of looking at and situation the Expedition's work in historical and intellectual debates. Central themes covered are the relationship between the expedition members and the Torres Strait Islanders: the innovations associated with the Expedition and the Expedition's influence on the development of anthropology and psychology. One hundred years on, the results of the Expedition have a contemporary relevance for anthropology and for the Torres Strait Islanders.

1. Introduction: Cambridge and the Torres Strait Anita Herle and Sandra Rouse
2. Haddon attends a funeral: fieldwork in Torres Strait 1888, 1898 Jeremy Beckett
3. Expedition and institution: A. C. Haddon and anthropology at Cambridge Sandra Rouse
4. The life-histories of objects: collections of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait Anita Herle
5. Performing science: still photography and the Torres Strait Expedition Elizabeth Edwards
6. Getting a result: the Expedition's psychological research 1898–1913 Graham Richards
7. Fieldworkers and physiologists Henrika Kuklick
8. At the Australian-Papuan linguistic boundary: Sidney Ray's classification of Torres Strait languages Anna Shnukal
9. Making sense of diversity and complexity: the ethnological context and consequences of the Torres Strait Expedition and the Oceanic phase in British anthropology 1890–1935 James Urry
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]