Wallace in the Field : Ethnographic Expeditions and the Rise of Anthropology (Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century)

A man of many talents—naturalist, geographer, anthropologist, and political commentator—Alfred Russel Wallace made seminal contributions to science in the nineteenth century. With Wallace in the Field, Victor Rafael Limeira-DaSilva unpacks the early life of one of the most beloved and famous Victorian scientific figures. Focusing on Wallace’s significant contribution to the emergence of anthropology, Limeira-DaSilva traces the peripatetic trajectory of Wallace’s field work, from his humble beginnings in the suburbs of London to his travels through the Brazilian Amazon and Asia. Challenging traditional portrayals that cast Wallace as Darwin’s sidekick or a casual ethnographer, the book demonstrates how he built a deliberate and ambitious career as a field observer of human diversity. It offers a fresh perspective on the intersections between ethnographic encounters, racial science, and knowledge production, revealing how Wallace’s pursuit of recognition helped redefine the standards of scientific authority in British anthropology.