As they saw it, as we see it: a comparative ethnographic and historical perspective on the first and third Galathea expedition

As they saw it, as we see it: a comparative ethnographic and historical perspective on the first and third Galathea expedition

Senior Researcher Bente Wolff, PhD , and Inge Schjellerup, Dr.Phil., Ethnographic Collection, The National Museum of Denmark

Historical comparative perspective on the expeditions of Galathea I and Galathea III.

The project’s purpose is to compare the past and the present with the descriptions, collection of objects and pictorial material available from Galathea I (and partially from Galathea II), and the present day with new descriptions, collection of ethnographic specimens and new pictorial material to be collected in the course of the upcoming Galathea III expedition in 2006 and 2007.

The main questions for which the project will seek the answer may be summarised as follows:

What did the world look like in the selected locations in 1845?

How did the Galathea I expedition see these localities and their populations?

Which changes have occurred since then and what is the historical and social background for these changes?

The project is an umbrella project that ties together several independent research projects at the selected destinations along the route of the voyage. By means of description, photography and the collection of objects from the destinations, as well as studies in the Danish archives, it will be possible to communicate the stories of cultural change or continuity over a period of approximately 150 years. 

The project places great emphasis on ethnographic and historical communication, but, at the same time, it will generate valuable new knowledge about the world views of different historical periods, as well as changes that have taken place in the landscapes and the living conditions and customs of the populations studied.

Two senior researchers from the Ethnographic Collections at the National Museum of Denmark, who possess great experience gained from fieldwork in the regions selected, coordinate the project.