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The Myth of the Noble Savage [Paperback]

Ter Ellingson (Author)
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Terry Jay Ellingson
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Product Description

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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.

About the Author

Ter Ellingson is an anthropologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
European ideas of the "savage" grew out of an imaginative fusion of classical mythology with the new descriptions that were beginning to be conceived by scientifically minded writers as "observations" of foreign peoples by Renaissance travel-ethnographic writers. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Amazon.com:  2 reviews
18 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Myth of the Myth of the Noble Savage 24 Feb 2003
By John C. Landon - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This engaging history of the Noble Savage theme, purportedly the creation of Rousseau, traces the source, history, and misuse of the myth of this curious being, absolving Rousseau in large measure of the dastardly deed of fiction. At a time when this myth is being recycled by sociobiologists, a.k.a. 'evolutionary psychologists' (cf. Pinker's The Blank Slate) for reasons some have tsktsked as ideological, this book hits the spot for comprehensive debriefing of the entire lore, starting with the real inventor here, Lescarbot in his Histoire de la Nouvelle France, written in 1609: because all Mi'kmaq men practiced hunting, enjoying a right that was restricted by law to the nobility in Europe, Lescarbot drew the comparative conclusion that 'the Savages are truely Noble'. There you have it. The author notes, "...the title refers to a living, contemporary myth that most of us accept as fact, and because the myth itslef deceives us by claiming to critique and offer an expose of another 'myth', the existence of Savages who were really Noble. The purported critique typically examines ethnographic or theoretical writings on 'savage' peoples to problematise any potential claims to their 'nobility'. The supposed expose asserts that the 'myth' of savage nobility was created in the nineteenth century by Jean-Jacques Rousseau...the real myth, in other words, is what we have been deceived into thinking is the reality behind the myth..."
Excellent and detailed study, very useful from many aspects, with many vignettes of early racist anthropologists, and much else.
Jean-Jacques lives...
3 of 53 people found the following review helpful
VERY LONG AND WINDING 1 Aug 2001
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Much information with random connections. Can this music teacher really comprehend our ways? He seems to think he's got it all figured out, but maybe instead he should write less and make more music. Some noble drumming might make a savage out of him too.

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