My thesis revives the term raciology to describe collectively the literature which emanated
out of philological ethnology, that is, out of the studies of man inspired by the rapid advances in
linguistic science in the early nineteeenth century. Raciological Thought in Victorian Culture is
divided into two parts: it examines the development and dissemination of nineteenth-century
raciological knowledge in the works of celebrated philologists and anthropologists; and then
investigates typical features of raciological discourse in Victorian and Victorian Canadian culture.
It views this regional British literature as a field for the political and educational deployment of
British raciological conceptions, and comments on some of the implications of the circulation of
raciological doctrine.
My argument begins with discussion of the often overlooked celebrity and authority of
philologists in Victorian culture, tracing the derivation from philology of raciological typologies
which established the raciological associations of terms like "Britons," "Anglo-Saxons," and
"Teutons" during the early and middle-Victorian periods. An important aspect of the thesis is a re-evaluation
of the influence of Friedrich Max Muller, the most influential comparative philologist
and mythologist in the Victorian world. I argue that his use of etymological study for archaeological
data greatly contributed to the rapid dissemination of raciological thought among the educated and
educating classes. The first part of the thesis concludes with discussion of issues which animated
raciological discourse.
The second part follows the dissemination of Victorian raciological thought to Canada, and
illustrates its effects in an imperial context. It demonstrates the use of raciology in establishing
Canada's legitimacy as a British nation, and documents the place of raciology in establishing the
authenticity of Canadian continuity with a British culture running into deep antiquity. After
discussing neglected raciological aspects of several important Victorian Canadian source works, it
goes on to outline the importance of raciological mythology to the preservation of the Dominion
from American annexation and Fenian incursion. My epilogue briefly documents the decline of
raciological thought in Britain after the 1890s.
By investigating numerous neglected Victorian sources, Raciological Thought in Victorian
Culture establishes raciology as an important element in Victorian political-and, in particular,
nationalist-thinking.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10835 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | O'Leary, Daniel Ralph J. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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