Ethnohistory – Collecting and Representing

Abstract

This chapter sketches an ethnohistory of embodied encounters and situated exchanges which helped generate the ethnographic collections and representations resulting from Bruni d’Entrecasteaux’s voyage in search of La Pérouse. At every shore stopover and during meetings at sea, expedition members amassed artefacts, words, and other knowledge. They described people, places, events, and objects in diverse written and visual genres. Their representations were partly shaped by prevailing discourses or conventions and also materialized, overtly or tacitly, the personal perspectives and experiences of authors or artists. Until quite recently, most scholars took for granted the centrality and dominance of European travellers in encounters, exchanges, and representations.