Myth of the Noble Savage
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18th century
19th century
A01=Ter Ellingson
academic
anthropologists
anthropology
Author_Ter Ellingson
case study
Category=JBGB
Category=JHM
Category=NHB
Category=NHD
colonialist
contemporary
debunked
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
feudalist
folklore
internet
legal issues
modern world
mythology
natural life
natural world
nature
noble savage
online
political
politics
race issues
racial equality
racism
racist
research
rousseau
savages
scholarly
stereotype
study
Product details
- ISBN 9780520226104
- Weight: 680g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 16 Jan 2001
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In this important and original study, the myth of the Noble Savage is an altogether different myth from the one defended or debunked by others over the years. That the concept of the Noble Savage was first invented by Rousseau in the mid-eighteenth century in order to glorify the 'natural' life is easily refuted. The myth that persists is that there was ever, at any time, widespread belief in the nobility of savages. The fact is, as Ter Ellingson shows, the humanist eighteenth century actually avoided the term because of its association with the feudalist-colonialist mentality that had spawned it 150 years earlier. The Noble Savage reappeared in the mid-nineteenth century, however, when the 'myth' was deliberately used to fuel anthropology's oldest and most successful hoax. Ellingson's narrative follows the career of anthropologist John Crawfurd, whose political ambition and racist agenda were well served by his construction of what was manifestly a myth of savage nobility.
Generations of anthropologists have accepted the existence of the myth as fact, and Ellingson makes clear the extent to which the misdirection implicit in this circumstance can enter into struggles over human rights and racial equality. His examination of the myth's influence in the late twentieth century, ranging from the World Wide Web to anthropological debates and political confrontations, rounds out this fascinating study.
Ter Ellingson is an anthropologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington.
