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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Rich, Jeremy (Jeremy McMaster)

Title Missing links : the African and American worlds of R.L. Garner, primate collector / Jeremy Rich.

Publication Info. Athens : University of Georgia Press, [2012]
©2012

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (xi, 220 pages) : illustrations, map.
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Series Race in the Atlantic world, 1700-1900
Race in the Atlantic world, 1700-1900.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents The southern Gabonese coast in the age of Garner -- Garner's animal business in Africa and America -- Is the monkey man manly enough? -- Race, knowledge, and colonialism in Garner's African writings -- African animals for white supremacy -- An American sorcerer in colonial Gabon -- Aping civilization.
Summary "Jeremy Rich uses the eccentric life of R.L. Garner (1848-1920) to examine the commercial networks that brought the first apes to America during the Progressive Era, a critical time in the development of ideas about African wildlife, race, and evolution. Garner was a self-taught zoologist and atheist from southwest Virginia. Starting in 1892, he lived on and off in the French colony of Gabon, studying primates and trying to engage U.S. academics with his theories. Most prominently, Garner claimed that he could teach apes to speak human languages and that he could speak the languages of primates. Garner brought some of the first live primates to America, launching a traveling demonstration in which he claimed to communicate with a chimpanzee named Susie. He was often mocked by the increasingly professionalized scientific community, who were wary of his colorful escapades, such as his ill-fated plan to make a New York City socialite the queen of southern Gabon, and his efforts to convince Thomas Edison to finance him in Africa. Yet Garner did influence evolutionary debates, and as with many of his era, race dominated his thinking. Garner's arguments--for example, that chimpanzees were more loving than Africans, or that colonialism constituted a threat to the separation of the races--offer a fascinating perspective on the thinking and attitudes of his times. Missing Links explores the impact of colonialism on Africans, the complicated politics of buying and selling primates, and the popularization of biological racism."--Project Muse.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch), 1848-1920.
Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch), 1848-1920.
Garner, R. L., 1848-1920 Garner, Richard Lynch.
Garner, Richard Lynch.
Primatologists -- United States -- Biography.
Primatologists.
United States.
Genre/Form Biographies.
Subject Apes -- Gabon.
Apes.
Gabon.
Apes -- Collection and preservation -- Gabon.
Apes -- Collection and preservation -- United States.
Gabon -- History -- 1839-1960.
History.
Chronological Term 1839-1960
Subject Americans -- Gabon -- Attitudes.
Americans.
Racism -- History -- 19th century.
Racism.
Chronological Term 19th century
Subject Africans -- Public opinion.
Africans -- Public opinion.
Africans.
Human-animal relationships -- Gabon.
Human-animal relationships.
Chronological Term Geschichte 1890-1920.
Genre/Form Biographie.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
Subject Racism.
Genre/Form Biographies.
Other Form: Print version: Rich, Jeremy (Jeremy McMaster). Missing links. Athens : University of Georgia Press, ©2012 9780820340593 (DLC) 2011018020 (OCoLC)723142081
ISBN 9780820341811 (electronic book)
0820341819 (electronic book)
9780820340593
0820340596
9780820340609
082034060X