The Roth Family, Anthropology, and Colonial Administration

No family better represents the overlapping roles of administrator andscientist in the British empire than the Roths. Descended from a Hungarianemigrant to Aust... » 

No family better represents the overlapping roles of administrator andscientist in the British empire than the Roths. Descended from a Hungarianemigrant to Australia two generations of Roths served the empire on fourcontinents and at the same time produced ethnographic archaeological andlinguistic studies that form the basis for much modern research. This volumeassesses the oftenconflicting roles and contributions of the Roths asgovernment servants and anthropologists. Most of the volume deals with WalterE. Roth who developed foundational studies of both the AustralianAboriginesaconsidered to be among the first systematic ethnographiesanywhereaand South American tribes while serving as Chief Protector ofAborigines in Queensland and later medical officer magistrate museum curatorand indigenous relations officer in British Guyana. Henry Ling Rothascontributions to the anthropology of Tasmania Benin Sarawak and New Zealandare also enumerated as are the publications and administrative activities ofthe succeeding generation of Roths. This volume serves the reader as a familybiography a slice of the English colonial history and an importantintroduction to the history of anthropology. «