First published in 1906, this archaeological examination of the ruins of Zimbabwe, Rhodesia's pre-historic monument, asserted that it was African in origin, belonging to the medieval period. The academic controversy still has echoes in the 21st century.

As European colonies in Asia and Africa became independent nations, as the United States engaged in war in Southeast Asia and in covert operations in South America, anthropologists questioned their interactions with their subjects and worried about the political consequences of government-supported research. By 1970, some spoke of anthropology as “the child of Western imperialism” and as “scientific colonialism.” Ironically, as the link between anthropology and colonialism became more widely accepted within the discipline, serious interest in examining the history of anthropology in colonial contexts diminished. This volume is an effort to initiate a critical historical consideration of the varying “colonial situations” in which (and out of which) ethnographic knowledge essential to anthropology has been produced. The essays comment on ethnographic work from the middle of the nineteenth century to nearly the end of the twentieth, in regions from Oceania through southeast Asia, the Andaman Islands, and southern Africa to North and South America. The “colonial situations” also cover a broad range, from first contact through the establishment of colonial power, from District Officer administrations through white settler regimes, from internal colonialism to international mandates, from early “pacification” to wars of colonial liberation, from the expropriation of land to the defense of ecology. The motivations and responses of the anthropologists discussed are equally varied: the romantic resistance of Maclay and the complicity of Kubary in early colonialism; Malinowski’s salesmanship of academic anthropology; Speck’s advocacy of Indian land rights; Schneider’s grappling with the ambiguities of rapport; and Turner’s facilitation of Kaiapo cinematic activism. “Provides fresh insights for those who care about the history of science in general and that of anthropology in particular, and a valuable reference for professionals and graduate students.”—Choice “Among the most distinguished publications in anthropology, as well as in the history of social sciences.”—George Marcus, Anthropologica

The Ancient Explorers (1929) examines the motives of ancient exploration by the different civilizations of the time, the primary of these being the Greeks and the Romans, and looks at the means of travel at their disposal. The book uses both historical records and modern archaeological discoveries to piece together the important journeys that expanded the known worlds of the ancient peoples.

In the heart of south-central Africa there are remains of monuments, ruined cities, temples, forts, irrigation terraces reminiscent of the classic civilizations of the Egyptians and Phoenicians. Yet despite having first been investigated by the Royal Geographical Society a century ago the Zimbabwe (stone courts) culture remains all but unknown to the world at large. This book reveals how the truth about the Zimbabwe culture has been radically influenced, indeed suppressed, throughout history by white and black political interests, struggling to redefine Zimbabwe's identity.