Seligman, Charles (1873-1940)
British physician Charles G. Seligman (1873-1940) became an anthropologist during the famous Cambridge Expedition to the Torres Strait (1898). Following other ethnographic missions, often accompanied by his wife Brenda Seligman, he published books — including The Veddas (1911) — that consolidated his reputation and gave him a pioneering teaching position at the London School of Economics. Converted to diffusionism, he launched his “Hamitic” theory on the influence of Egyptian civilization in Africa. Master of Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard and Isaac Schapera, his place in the history of the discipline was to be eclipsed by the institutional and intellectual rise of Malinowski.
Keywords: Physical anthropology | Social and cultural anthropology | African Studies | Asian studies | Melanesian studies | Cultural diffusion and migrations
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“À sombra do discípulo: uma biografia de Charles Seligman”
Adam Kuper, 2018
Nascido em 1873, Charles Gabriel Seligman era filho único de Hermann Seligman, abastado comerciante de vinhos em Londres, e de Olivia Mendez da Costa, descendente de uma respeitável família sefardita inglesa. Um dos seus antepassados em linha direta, Emmanuel Mendez da Costa, chegara a ser (…)
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“C. G. Seligman: ’Sligs’”
Adam Kuper, 2017
Charles Gabriel Seligman was born in 1873, the only son of a prosperous London wine merchant, Hermann Seligman. His mother, Olivia Mendez da Costa, was the descendant of a distinguished Sephardi English family. One of her direct ancestors, Emanuel Mendez da Costa became a Fellow of the Royal (…)
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« À l’ombre du disciple : une biographie de Charles Seligman »
Adam Kuper, 2017
Né en 1873, Charles Gabriel Seligman est le seul enfant de Hermann Seligman, un riche marchand de vins londonien. Sa mère, Olivia Mendez da Costa, descend d’une respectable famille sépharade anglaise. L’un de ses ancêtres directs, Emmanuel Mendez da Costa, était devenu membre (puis secrétaire) (…)
Secondary sources
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“Charles Gabriel Seligman 1873-1940”
Charles Myers, 1941
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“Charles Gabriel Seligman, 1873-1940”
Meyer Fortes, 1941
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“Charles Gabriel Seligman”
Melville Herskovits, 1941
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“Seligman’s Contributions to Oceanic Anthropology”
Raymond Firth, 1975
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“Charles Gabriel Seligman and Brenda Zara Seligman”
Frances Larson, 2005
Primary sources
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The Melanesians of British New Guinea
Charles Seligman, 1910
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The Veddas
Brenda Seligman & Charles Seligman, 1911
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“Some Aspects of the Hamitic Problem in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan”
Charles Seligman, 1913
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Races of Africa
Charles Seligman, 1930
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The Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan
Brenda Seligman & Charles Seligman, 1932
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Essays Presented to C. G. Seligman
E. E. Evans‑Pritchard, Raymond Firth, Bronislaw Malinowski & Isaac Schapera, 1934
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