Maria Czaplicka
Encyclopedia
Maria Antonina Czaplicka (October 25, 1884 - May 27, 1921), also referred to as Marya Antonina Czaplicka and Marie Antoinette Czaplicka, was a Polish cultural anthropologist who is best known for her ethnography of Siberian shamanism. Czaplicka's research survives in three major works: her studies in Aboriginal Siberia (1914); a travelogue published as My Siberian Year (1916); and a set of lectures published as The Turks of Central Asia (1919). Curzon Press
republished all three volumes plus a fourth volume of articles and letters in 1999.
district of Warsaw
in 1884, into an impoverished Polish nobility
family. She started her studies with the so-called Flying University
(later Wyższe Kursy Naukowe), an underground institution of higher education in Russian-held
Poland. She supported herself with a number of poorly paid jobs, as a teacher, secretary, and lady's companion
. She also wrote poetry, and a novel for children called Olek Niedziela. In 1910 she became the first woman to receive a Mianowski Scholarship, and was therefore able to continue her studies in the United Kingdom
.
She left Poland in 1910, and continued her studies at the Faculty of Anthropology of the London School of Economics
under Charles G. Seligman
, and at Somerville College, Oxford
under R.R. Marett. Marett encouraged her to use her Russian language
skills in a review of literature on native tribes in Siberia
, which became her book Aboriginal Siberia, published in 1914. At this stage she had never visited Siberia, but the quality of her writing led to Aboriginal Siberia becoming the major reference work in its field.
staff. Together with English ornithologist Maud Doria Haviland
, American painter Dora Curtis
, and Henry Usher Hall
of the Museum, she arrived in Russia
shortly before World War I
broke out. After the war started Czaplicka and Hall decided to continue their expedition while the others decided to go back to the United Kingdom
. Czaplicka and Hall (accompanied by Michikha, a Tungus
woman) spent the entire winter travelling along the shores of the Yenisei River
: more than 3000 kilometres (1,864.1 mi) altogether.
Czaplicka prepared several hundreds of photographs of people of Siberia, as well as countless notes on anthropometry
and their customs. Czaplicka also received funds from the Committee for Anthropology of the Pitt Rivers Museum
in Oxford
to collect specimens from Siberia; 193 objects were donated by Czaplicka to the museum's Asian collection. In addition, she collected botanical specimens for the Fielding-Druce Herbarium
.
(in their non-fiction "My Year" series); the book became very popular. In 1916, she also became the first female lecturer in anthropology at Oxford University, supported by the Mary Ewart Trust. She gave lectures on the nations of Central
and Eastern Europe
as well as on the habits of the Siberia
n tribes. She also spoke on Polish issues, including Danzig
's post-war
disposition.
In 1920, her work was honoured with a Murchison Grant
from the Royal Geographical Society
, "for her ethnographical and geographical work in Northern Siberia." In spite of this triumph, her financial future was still insecure. Her three-year fellowship at Oxford having expired in 1919, she obtained a temporary teaching position in anthropology in the Department of Anatomy
at the University of Bristol
.
In 1921, she failed to obtain the Albert Kahn Travelling Fellowship which she had hoped for, and in May of that year she poison
ed herself. The University's Senate expressed its regret and "appreciation of the loss to the University of so distinguished a member of its staff". Czaplicka is buried in the Wolvercote Cemetery
in Oxford.
. Although she never married, questions have been raised about the relationship between Hall and Czaplicka, and whether she had feelings for him. Hall had married in the U.S. at about the same time of Czaplicka's suicide; it is unknown if Hall's marriage led Czaplicka to kill herself. After Hall died in 1944, some of Czaplicka's early papers were donated to the University of Pennsylvania Museum, but at least one report and a partial manuscript may be lost. Her primary papers are archived at Somerville College, Oxford
. Polish museums hold a few private letters of Czaplicka to Malinowski and Władysław Orkan, one of the most prominent Polish poet
s of the time.
Upon her death in 1971, Barbara Aitkin, a student of Marett and friend of Czaplicka's, memorialized Czaplicka with a fund at Somerville College.
Routledge
Routledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
republished all three volumes plus a fourth volume of articles and letters in 1999.
Early life and studies
Czaplicka was born in the Stara PragaPraga
Praga is a historical borough of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It is located on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter.- History :...
district of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
in 1884, into an impoverished Polish nobility
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
family. She started her studies with the so-called Flying University
Flying University
Flying University was the name of an underground educational enterprise that operated from 1885 to 1905 in Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, then under the control of the Russian Empire, and that was revived between 1977 and 1981 in the People's Republic of Poland...
(later Wyższe Kursy Naukowe), an underground institution of higher education in Russian-held
Vistula land
Vistula Land or Vistula Country was the name applied to the lands of the Kingdom of Poland following the defeats of the November Uprising and January Uprising as it was increasingly stripped of autonomy and incorporated into Imperial Russia...
Poland. She supported herself with a number of poorly paid jobs, as a teacher, secretary, and lady's companion
Lady's companion
A lady's companion was a woman of genteel birth who acted as a paid companion for women of rank or wealth. The term was in use in the United Kingdom from at least the 18th century to the mid 20th century. It was related to the position of lady-in-waiting, which by the 19th century was only applied...
. She also wrote poetry, and a novel for children called Olek Niedziela. In 1910 she became the first woman to receive a Mianowski Scholarship, and was therefore able to continue her studies in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
She left Poland in 1910, and continued her studies at the Faculty of Anthropology of the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
under Charles G. Seligman
Charles Gabriel Seligman
Charles Gabriel Seligman FRS was a British ethnologist. Born in London, Seligman studied medicine at St. Thomas' Hospital....
, and at Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
under R.R. Marett. Marett encouraged her to use her Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
skills in a review of literature on native tribes in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, which became her book Aboriginal Siberia, published in 1914. At this stage she had never visited Siberia, but the quality of her writing led to Aboriginal Siberia becoming the major reference work in its field.
Yenisei Expedition
Marett had intended the work reported in Czaplicka's Aboriginal Siberia to be the basis for fieldwork in Siberia. In May 1914, she began such fieldwork, leading a joint expedition of Oxford University and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and AnthropologyUniversity of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, commonly called The Penn Museum, is an archaeology and anthropology museum that is part of the University of Pennsylvania in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-History:An internationally renowned...
staff. Together with English ornithologist Maud Doria Haviland
Maud Doria Haviland
Maud Doria Haviland, whose married name was Mrs. Harold Hulme Brindley was an English ornithologist....
, American painter Dora Curtis
Dora Curtis
Dora Curtis was an artist, member of the expedition together with Maud Doria Haviland , Miss Maria Antonina Czaplicka , Polish anthropologist, and Mr. Henry Usher Hall, of the Philadelphia University Museum , on a trip down the Yenisei River in Siberia to the Kara Sea in 1914.- External links...
, and Henry Usher Hall
Henry Usher Hall
Henry Usher Hall was an American anthropologist. He was Assistant Curator and Curator of the General Ethnology Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum from 1915 to 1935...
of the Museum, she arrived in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
shortly before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out. After the war started Czaplicka and Hall decided to continue their expedition while the others decided to go back to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Czaplicka and Hall (accompanied by Michikha, a Tungus
Evenks
The Evenks are a Tungusic people of Northern Asia. In Russia, the Evenks are recognized as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a population of 35,527...
woman) spent the entire winter travelling along the shores of the Yenisei River
Yenisei River
Yenisei , also written as Yenisey, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. It is the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean...
: more than 3000 kilometres (1,864.1 mi) altogether.
Czaplicka prepared several hundreds of photographs of people of Siberia, as well as countless notes on anthropometry
Anthropometry
Anthropometry refers to the measurement of the human individual...
and their customs. Czaplicka also received funds from the Committee for Anthropology of the Pitt Rivers Museum
Pitt Rivers Museum
The Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed through that building.The museum was...
in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
to collect specimens from Siberia; 193 objects were donated by Czaplicka to the museum's Asian collection. In addition, she collected botanical specimens for the Fielding-Druce Herbarium
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
The Department of Plant Sciences, at the University of Oxford, focusses on research and teaching in plant and fungal biology.- History :Forestry was an important part of the university under the name of the Imperial Forest Institute , later the Commonwealth Forest Institute from 1939...
.
Return to England and death
Czaplicka returned to England in 1915. She wrote a diary of her travel entitled My Siberian Year, which was published in 1916 by Mills & BoonMills & Boon
Mills & Boon is a British publisher of romance novels. It was founded in 1908, and was independent until its purchase in 1971 by Harlequin Enterprises with whom the company had had a long informal partnership...
(in their non-fiction "My Year" series); the book became very popular. In 1916, she also became the first female lecturer in anthropology at Oxford University, supported by the Mary Ewart Trust. She gave lectures on the nations of Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
as well as on the habits of the Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n tribes. She also spoke on Polish issues, including Danzig
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
's post-war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
disposition.
In 1920, her work was honoured with a Murchison Grant
Murchison Award
The Murchison Award was first given by the Royal Geographical Society in 1882 for publications judged to have contributed most to geographical science in preceding recent years.-Recipients:* 1895 Eivind Astrup* 1898 Herbert Warrington Smyth...
from the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
, "for her ethnographical and geographical work in Northern Siberia." In spite of this triumph, her financial future was still insecure. Her three-year fellowship at Oxford having expired in 1919, she obtained a temporary teaching position in anthropology in the Department of Anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
at the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
.
In 1921, she failed to obtain the Albert Kahn Travelling Fellowship which she had hoped for, and in May of that year she poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ed herself. The University's Senate expressed its regret and "appreciation of the loss to the University of so distinguished a member of its staff". Czaplicka is buried in the Wolvercote Cemetery
Wolvercote Cemetery
Wolvercote Cemetery is a cemetery close to the north Oxford suburb of Wolvercote, England, off the Banbury Road. Unusually, this single cemetery is divided into areas to accommodate graves of the Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as all categories of Christians. Many Russians, Poles and other...
in Oxford.
Post-death
In a will written months before she died, Czaplicka left her notes and reports to her colleague Henry Usher HallHenry Usher Hall
Henry Usher Hall was an American anthropologist. He was Assistant Curator and Curator of the General Ethnology Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum from 1915 to 1935...
. Although she never married, questions have been raised about the relationship between Hall and Czaplicka, and whether she had feelings for him. Hall had married in the U.S. at about the same time of Czaplicka's suicide; it is unknown if Hall's marriage led Czaplicka to kill herself. After Hall died in 1944, some of Czaplicka's early papers were donated to the University of Pennsylvania Museum, but at least one report and a partial manuscript may be lost. Her primary papers are archived at Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
. Polish museums hold a few private letters of Czaplicka to Malinowski and Władysław Orkan, one of the most prominent Polish poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
s of the time.
Upon her death in 1971, Barbara Aitkin, a student of Marett and friend of Czaplicka's, memorialized Czaplicka with a fund at Somerville College.
Selected works
- Aboriginal Siberia: A Study in Social Anthropology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914.
- "The Influence of Environment upon the Religious Ideas and Practices of the Aborigines of Northern Asia". Folklore. 25. pp. 34–54. 1914.
- "The Life and Work of N.N. Miklubo-Macklay". Man. 14. pp. 198–203, 1914.
- My Siberian Year. LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Mills and Boon, 1916. - "Tribes of the Yenisei. The Oxford Expedition". Times Russian Supplement. 13. p. 6. Sept. 18, 1915.
- "Siberia and some Siberians". Journal of the Manchester Geographical Soc. 32. pp. 27–42. 1916.
- "The Siberian Colonist or Sibiriak. In W. Stephens ed. The Soul of Russia. London: Macmillan. 1916.
- "On the track of the Tungus". Scottish Geographical Magazine. 33. pp. 289–303. 1917.
- "The Evolution of the Cossack Communities". J. of the Central Asian Society. 5. pp. 42–58. 1918.
- "A plea for Siberia". New European. 6. pp. 339–344. 1918.
- The Turks of Central Asia in History and at the Present Day, An Ethnological Inquiry into the Pan-Turanian Problem, and Bibliographical Material Relating to the Early Turks and the Present Turks of Central Asia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1918.
- "Poland". The Geographical Journal. 53:36. 1919.
- "The Ethnic versus the Economic Frontiers of Poland". Scottish Geographical Magazine. 36. pp. 10–16. 1920.
- "History and Ethnology in Central Asia". Man. 21. pp. 19–24. 1921.
External links
- Aboriginal Siberia - Excerpts from the Sacred Texts archive
- Photo Album of Maria Cazplicka - Photo Album of Maria Czaplicka
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography David N. Collins, ‘Czaplicka, Marya Antonina (1884–1921)’, first published Sept 2004, 960 words, with portrait illustration