Nineteenth-century ethnography arose to depict humans as naturally productive beings

Evidence

Ethnography emerged in the early nineteenth century, not just to describe the nature of man, but as part of a larger process of describing man as, by nature, productive. The first serious ethnography of the Middle East, Edward Lane’s Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, was subsidised and published in England by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the organisation set up by Lord Brougham, as I mentioned earlier, to introduce books and schooling to the new industrial working class in order to teach them the virtues of industriousness and self-discipline. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 345 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The first ethnography of Egypt was published to teach the English working class industriousness; Early ethnography arose from a project to define humanity as naturally industrious — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 345; Early ethnography drew prescriptive anti-idleness moralizing from claims about savage diets (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Early ethnography arose from a project to define humanity as naturally industrious #corroborates (0.97) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 345