Strehlow, Carl (1871-1922)

German missionary Carl Strehlow (1871-1922) was an ethnographer working in central Australia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. His language-centered ethnographic work on the Arrernte and the Loritja contrasted in several respects with Baldwin Spencer and Francis Gillen’s famous monograph on The Native Tribes of Central Australia (1899). Strehlow’s magnum opus Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien (1907-1920) was regarded with suspicion by British admirers of his rivals Spencer and Gillen and largely ignored in Australia until recently. His ethnography was invoked, however, in international anthropological debates on totemism and primitive monotheism taking place at the turn of the 20^th century.

Keywords: Amateur ethnographer | Ethnography | Christian missions | Missionary | Last quarter of the 19^th century | First quarter of the 20^th century | Germany | Australia | Oceania | Australian studies | Australian languages | Missionary Anthropology