Book contents
- Science and Power in the Nineteenth-Century Tasman World
- Science in History
- Science and Power in the Nineteenth-Century Tasman World
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on Language
- A Note on Related Texts
- Maps
- Introduction: The Show Begins
- 1 Bumps on the Road: Phrenological Touts and Travellers
- 2 Massaging the Town: Phrenological Ordeals and Audiences
- 3 Tactics on Stage: Indigenous Performers, Cultural Exchange and Negotiated Power
- 4 A Godly Touch of Male Power: Phrenology, Mesmerism and Gendered Authority
- 5 Talking Heads on a Murray River Mission
- 6 Black Phrenologists, Black Masks
- 7 Popular Science in a Changing Māori World
- 8 Gardening a European Island: Phrenologists, Whiteness and Reform for Nationhood
- 9 Divinatory Science in the City and the Bush
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Massaging the Town: Phrenological Ordeals and Audiences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 May 2023
- Science and Power in the Nineteenth-Century Tasman World
- Science in History
- Science and Power in the Nineteenth-Century Tasman World
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on Language
- A Note on Related Texts
- Maps
- Introduction: The Show Begins
- 1 Bumps on the Road: Phrenological Touts and Travellers
- 2 Massaging the Town: Phrenological Ordeals and Audiences
- 3 Tactics on Stage: Indigenous Performers, Cultural Exchange and Negotiated Power
- 4 A Godly Touch of Male Power: Phrenology, Mesmerism and Gendered Authority
- 5 Talking Heads on a Murray River Mission
- 6 Black Phrenologists, Black Masks
- 7 Popular Science in a Changing Māori World
- 8 Gardening a European Island: Phrenologists, Whiteness and Reform for Nationhood
- 9 Divinatory Science in the City and the Bush
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Popular phrenologists lecturing in the Tasman World from 1850 onwards performed head public readings, on stage or in the street. Although bump readers abounded across the Anglosphere, the region and its rapid population growth shaped a particular reception experience. The arrival of an exotic outsider provided a chance for townsfolk, often newly thrown together, to glean an objective – if chaotic – perspective on their community and neighbours. Across this patchwork of settlements, popular phrenology became a tactile lingua franca, with audiences scrutinising the lecturer to catch out humbug through the public ordeal of “trying the bumps”. Whatever the outcome, the town experienced the dual entertainment of theatre and public power-play. Here was a chance to jest about their town and pecking order under the veil of science. Inevitably, phrenologists altered the local climate. But the town always won, and a phrenologist with a crushed reputation could face disaster.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Science and Power in the Nineteenth-Century Tasman WorldPopular Phrenology in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, pp. 60 - 79Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023