Saviors and Scientists

North American Protestant Missionaries and the Development of Anthropology

Bibliographic Data

ID5826564
AuthorsCarol L Higham (corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume72
Issue4
Pages531-559
Publication date2003-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePacific Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0030-8684 • E-ISSN: 1533-8584
PublisherUniversity of California Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/phr.2003.72.4.531
OpenAlexW2104781988
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited2

Few historians of anthropology and missionary work examine the relationship of Protestant missionaries with nineteenth-century anthropologists and its effect on anthropological portrayals of Indians. This paper poses the question: Does it make a difference that early anthropologists in Canada and the United States also worked as Protestant missionaries or relied on Protestant missionaries for data? Answering yes, it shows how declining support for Indian missions led missionaries to peddle their knowledge of Indians to scholarly institutions. These institutions welcomed missionaries as professionals because of their knowledge, dedication, and time in the field. Such relationships helped create a transnational image of the Indian in late nineteenth-century North American anthropology

Protestantism · Sociology · Anthropology · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Philosophy · Religious studies

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