The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region

The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region

Until the second half of the 19th century, the region to the north of China, also known as Manchuria, was relatively unknown in the West. In the wake of the political events after the First Opium War (1839-1842), Europeans began to spread information about the region in Western publications. Scienti...

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Publicado no:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles,
Autor principal: Maréchal, Anne Dalles
Formato: Article ou chapitre numérique
Idioma:Anglais
Publicado em: Angles 2025
Assuntos:
photography
Otherness
Manchuria
colonial knowledge
explorations
travel writing
Acesso em linha:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
id openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_9035
record_format openedition
spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_9035 https://doi.org/10.4000/159op urn:doi:10.4000/159op en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/9035 2025-12-03T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/159op https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Maréchal, Anne Dalles photography Otherness Manchuria colonial knowledge explorations travel writing Until the second half of the 19th century, the region to the north of China, also known as Manchuria, was relatively unknown in the West. In the wake of the political events after the First Opium War (1839-1842), Europeans began to spread information about the region in Western publications. Scientific and military explorations grew exponentially at the same time as the techniques for disseminating knowledge. This led to the development of an imaginary Manchurian Far East which circulated in Europe and the United States and aroused the curiosity of explorers. In this article, I look at the publications of three English-speaking travellers who visited northern Manchuria in the late nineteenth century: the 1860 book by Thomas Witlam Atkinson, an English explorer who travelled on the River Amur between 1847 and 1853; the 1888 book by Henry Evan Murchison James, a British civil servant in India, who travelled to Manchuria in 1886-1887; the photographs of the American William Henry Jackson, taken between 1894 and 1896 as a member of and photographer for the World’s Transportation Commission. The aim of this article is to study the way in which these three explorers described the hunting practices of the Tunguso-Manchu populations of the Amur region and used them to give meaning to this new territory. To understand the rhetoric of othering at work, I propose to look at the perceptions and representations of hunting practices in terms of what it tells us about how populations were classified, how territories were mapped and how places were represented. Jusqu’à la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, la région située au nord de la Chine, également connue sous le nom de Mandchourie, était relativement peu connue en Occident. Dans le sillage des événements politiques qui ont suivi la première guerre de l’Opium (1839-1842), les Européens ont commencé à diffuser des informations sur la région dans des publications occidentales. Les explorations scientifiques et militaires se sont développées de manière exponentielle en même temps que les techniques de diffusion des connaissances. C’est ainsi que se développe un imaginaire de l’Extrême-Orient de Mandchourie qui circule en Europe et aux États-Unis et suscite la curiosité des explorateurs. Dans cet article, je me penche sur les publications de trois voyageurs anglophones qui ont visité le nord de la Mandchourie à la fin du XIXe siècle : le livre publié en 1860 de Thomas Witlam Atkinson, explorateur anglais qui voyagea sur le fleuve Amour entre 1847 et 1853 ; le livre de 1888 de Henry Evan Murchison James, le fonctionnaire britannique en Inde qui voyagea en Mandchourie en 1886-1887 ; les photographies de l’Américain William Heny Jackson, prises entre 1894 et 1896 en tant que membre et photographe de la World’s Transportation Commission. L’objectif de cet article est d’étudier la manière dont ces trois explorateurs décrivent les pratiques de chasse des populations Toungouso-Manchu de la région de l’Amour et les utilisent pour donner du sens à ce nouveau territoire. Pour comprendre la rhétorique de l’altérité à l’œuvre, je propose d’examiner les perceptions et représentations de la chasse en fonction de ce qu’elle nous apprend sur la classification des populations, la cartographie des territoires et la représentation des lieux.
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic photography
Otherness
Manchuria
colonial knowledge
explorations
travel writing
spellingShingle photography
Otherness
Manchuria
colonial knowledge
explorations
travel writing
Maréchal, Anne Dalles
The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region
description Until the second half of the 19th century, the region to the north of China, also known as Manchuria, was relatively unknown in the West. In the wake of the political events after the First Opium War (1839-1842), Europeans began to spread information about the region in Western publications. Scientific and military explorations grew exponentially at the same time as the techniques for disseminating knowledge. This led to the development of an imaginary Manchurian Far East which circulated in Europe and the United States and aroused the curiosity of explorers. In this article, I look at the publications of three English-speaking travellers who visited northern Manchuria in the late nineteenth century: the 1860 book by Thomas Witlam Atkinson, an English explorer who travelled on the River Amur between 1847 and 1853; the 1888 book by Henry Evan Murchison James, a British civil servant in India, who travelled to Manchuria in 1886-1887; the photographs of the American William Henry Jackson, taken between 1894 and 1896 as a member of and photographer for the World’s Transportation Commission. The aim of this article is to study the way in which these three explorers described the hunting practices of the Tunguso-Manchu populations of the Amur region and used them to give meaning to this new territory. To understand the rhetoric of othering at work, I propose to look at the perceptions and representations of hunting practices in terms of what it tells us about how populations were classified, how territories were mapped and how places were represented.
author Maréchal, Anne Dalles
author_facet Maréchal, Anne Dalles
author_sort Maréchal, Anne Dalles
title The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region
title_short The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region
title_full The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region
title_fullStr The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region
title_full_unstemmed The Construction of Otherness in British and American Explorations of the Amur Region
title_sort construction of otherness in british and american explorations of the amur region
publisher Angles
publishDate 2025
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/159op
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/9035
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