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- Gerald Camden Wheeler
- Also known as
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Gerald Camden Wheeler
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primary name: Wheeler, Gerald C
- Details
- individual; academic/intellectual; anthropologist; British; Male
- Life dates
- 1872-1943
- Biography
- ( From Denis Monnerie, Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, 2007)
Born in London, studied at St Charles College and London University. Spoke fluently French, Portugese, German and Swedish, knew Latin and ancient Greek and was competent in Russian, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Serb and modern Greek. Translated French, Swedish, Danish and German books into English. Was a student of E. Westermarck. Before fieldwork in the Solomon Islands wrote 'The Tribe and Intertribal Relations in Australia' (published 1910). Under the direction of W. H. R. Rivers and with the A. M. Hocart, participated in an anthropological expedition to the Solomon Islands in 1908-1909, funded by the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund. Wheeler himself had received funds from London University, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society. The three anthropologists first stayed two and a half months in Simbo (or Eddystone) Island, working together and, especially, writing a dictionary of the Simbo language. Settled in Alu (or Shortland) Island (Western Solomon Islands), probably from October 1908 until July 1909. In Alu, met the German anthropologist Richard Thurnwald. Wheeler and Thurnwald became friends and later Wheeler was to publish several articles in German journals. After his stay in Alu, Wheeler kept in touch with a French Catholic priest, Father Maurice Boch of the Poporang Marist mission.
In 1926, Wheeler published Mono-Alu Folklore, a book dealing with Mono-Alu and Southern Bougainville myths, stories and songs. Died in London on November 28 1943, left his unfinished monograph of Mono-Alu. The text, numbering about 1200 pages is kept in London at the School of Oriental and African Studies library.
Wheeler gave several collections of Solomon Islands artefacts to the British Museum in 1927, registered as Oc1927.0310 and Oc1927.1003 and documented in Eth Doc 1096. Around two-thirds come from Mono and Alu, the rest are largely from Simbo.
- Bibliography
- Wheeler, G. C. 1910 The tribe and intertribal relations in Australia. London, John Murray. (Reprint 1968 : Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York).
Wheeler, G. C. 1912 "Sketch of the Totemism and Religion of the People of the Islands in the Bougainville Straits (Western Solomon Islands)". Archiv für Religionwissenschaft,15 : 24-58, 321-358. Leipzig - Berlin.
Wheeler, G. C. 1913 "A text in Mono Speech". Anthropos Bd. VIII.
Wheeler, G. C. 1914 "An account of the Death Rites and Eschatology of the People of the Bougainville Strait (Western Solomon Islands)", Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, 17 : 64-112. Leipzig - Berlin.
Wheeler, G. C. 1926 Mono Alu Folklore. (Bougainville Straits, W. Solomon Islands.) London, Routledge, G. and Sons.
Wheeler, G. C. 1928 "On some pottery from Alu, Bougainville Straits, Solomon Islands" in Man 28, 38-40.
Wheeler, G. C. n.d. Untitled MS 1200 p. (announced in Wheeler 1926 under the title Sociology) School of Oriental and African Studies Library. London. Microfilm.
Wheeler, G. C. n.d. Ethnographica from Alu and Mono, and Ethnogrpahica Collected in Simbo. mss. Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas, British Museum, London.
Boch, Maurice n.d. A Short Alu Grammar. (Typed)
Bril, Isabelle 1989 Recherches sur la langue de Mono-Alu, Iles Salomon : Etude des fonction de la particule -ga dans la langue de Mono-Alu. Mémoire de DEA. Paris VII. Sous la direction de A. Culioli.
Bril, Isabelle 1996 "Notes linguistiques" in Monnerie 1996 Nitu, les vivants, les morts et le cosmos selon la société de Mono-Alu (Iles Salomon). Leiden, Center for Non Western Studies
Fagan, Joel 1986 A Grammatical Analysis of Mono-Alu (Bougainville Straits, Solomon Islands). Pacific Linguistics, Series B - N° 96. Canberra.
Hobhouse, L. T., Ginsberg, M., Wheeler, G. C 1915 The Material Culture and Social Institutions of the Simpler Peoples: an Essay in Correlation. London, Chapman and Hall.
Monnerie, Denis 1988 Nitu, les vivants, les morts et l'univers selon la société de Mono-Alu (Iles Salomon). Thèse de doctorat de troisième cycle (PhD dissetation). École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. 511 p. (Published in a modified form: 1996)
Monnerie, Denis 1995 "On 'Grand-Mothers', 'Grand-Fathers' and 'Ancestors': Conceptualizing the Universe in Mono-Alu (Solomon Islands)." pp 105-133 in Society and Cosmos in Oceania, Coppet D. de, et Iteanu A. (eds.) Oxford, Berg.
Monnerie, Denis 1996 Nitu, les vivants, les morts et le cosmos selon la société de Mono-Alu (Iles Salomon). Leiden, Center for Non Western Studies (The Netherlands). 446 p.
Monnerie, Denis 1997 "Identités sociales et relations régionales en Océanie (Iles Salomon du Nord-Ouest)." in Le territoire, lien ou frontière, Bonnemaison J., Cambrézy L., Quinty-Bourgeois L. (éds.) Paris, ORSTOM Éditions. CD ROM. 15p.
Monnerie, Denis 1998 "Oceanian Comparison Reconsidered. The Mono-Alu problem." in Social Anthropology 6, 1 pp. 91-107.
Monnerie, Denis 2000 Relations régionales et sociétés locales en Océanie. Document de synthèse pour l'Habilitation à diriger des recherches. École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. 98 p. (Unpublished).
Monnerie, Denis 2002 "Monnaies de Mono-Alu (Iles Salomon). Valorisations, discontinuités et continuités dans les objets et les relations sociales en Mélanésie." in l'Homme n° 162, pp. 59-85.