Hambruch's colonial narrative: Pohnpei, German culture theory, and the Hamburg Expedition ethnography of 1908-10

As part of the Hamburg Ethnographic Museum's South Seas Expedition of 1908-10, Paul Hambruch did intensive ethnographic work on Pohnpei. His three Volumes appeared in the 1930s and have generally been well respected by Subsequent generations of anthropologists. Careful examination of Hambruch's writing, however, discloses that lie vas influenced by German racial and 'Kulturkreis' theory to a heretofore unrecognised extent. His narrative of Pohnpeian sociopolitical life, colonial history and the ill-starred rebellion of the Sokehs people against German rule are all reconsidered in light of his theoretical predispositions and the contexts in which lie worked.