Theorising Race and Evolution - German Anthropologie's utilisation of Australian Aboriginal skeletal remains during the Long Nineteenth Century

This thesis investigates the German physical anthropological discourse on Australian Aborigines during the long nineteenth century. It particularly explores, on the basis of contemporaneous German-language scientific publications, the way in which German physical anthropologists utilised Australian Aboriginal skeletal remains for their theorising on human diversity and evolution. One focus lies on the discussion of the Neuholländer or Australier in its various manifestations: ranging from the speculative theorising of the late Enlightenment period to the natural scientific, physical anthropological investigations of the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. It is shown that German physical anthropologists first relied on, and then continuously reinforced and thereby sustained existing notions of Australian Aboriginal physical and cultural-intellectual inferiority that were conveyed from the beginning of European contact. This bias was extraordinarily powerful, overriding the empirical evidence that challenged these pre-conceived ideas. The profoundly variable nature of humanity demonstrates the underlying fundamental problem; namely, the intrinsic fragility of classifying, typifying and ordering human diversity on the basis of one or another concept of race. This thesis also examines the scientific investigation and interpretation of Australian Aboriginal ancestral remains in the context of the establishment of German Anthropologie as a natural science discipline in the second half of the nineteenth century. Sceptical of the idea of Darwinian human evolution from a common animal ancestor, the first generation of anthropologists used Australian Aboriginal skeletal remains as research material, attempting to rebuke Darwinist hypothesising. In this context, this thesis intervenes into the current historiographical debate about the relation between humanism, liberalism, Darwinism and (anti- or non-) racist approaches to human diversity in the early German physical anthropological community. It is shown in particular, that German anti-Darwinians, who have been credited with following a non-racist approach to the investigation of humanity, only in theory refrained from drawing conclusions about racial hierarchies. In practice, their skeletal investigations, whether undertaken by Darwinists or anti-Darwinians, remained within and furthered the prevalent paradigm of racial hierarchies throughout the time period in question