Theodor Koch-Grünberg

Theodor Koch-Grünberg (born April 9, 1872 in Grünberg (Hesse) ; † October 8, 1924 in Vista Alegre , Caracaraí , Brazil ), also known as Theo Koch , was a German anthropologist and explorer who made important contributions to the study of South American Indians , especially the Pemón in Venezuela and from Amazon tribes .

Life

Koch-Grünberg studied classical philology at the University of Giessen , where he joined the Landsmannschaft Darmstadtia student union , and was a teacher at Hessian schools. In 1899 he took part in his first expedition to Brazil. From 1901 he worked at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin , in 1909 he moved to the University of Freiburg im Breisgau , where he completed his habilitation and became a private lecturer and from 1913 an associate professor. In 1915 he was appointed director of the Linden Museum in Stuttgart.

Koch-Grünberg died unexpectedly of malaria in Vila de Vista Alegre, a southern part of Caracaraí, in 1924 when an expedition with the American researcher A. Hamilton Rice and the Brazilian filmmaker Silvino Santos wanted to map the upper reaches of the Rio Branco.

Factory: The Brazilian Expeditions

From 1898 to 1900 he participated in the second Xingú - Expedition under the direction of Leipzig-based Hermann Meyer in part, according to the sources of the Rio Xingu sought, a tributary of the Amazon. From 1903 to 1905 he explored the Yapura and the Rio Negro on the border with Venezuela (northwestern Amazon region). His expedition report, with his investigation of the Baniwa, was published 1910–1911 under the title Two Years Among the Indians. Journeys in North West Brazil, published in two volumes 1903-1905 .

He was a pioneer in anthropological photography and his descriptions of Brazilian tribes are still of interest to ethnologists today .

His second important expedition to northern Brazil and southern Venezuela began in 1911. It led from Manaus up the Rio Branco to Monte Roraima in Venezuela. There he documented myths and legends of the Pemón Indians and took photos. Koch-Grünberg gave this pemón the local names Arekuna and Taulipang. Koch-Grünberg explored the Sierra Parima , the Caura and the Ventuari before he reached the Orinoco on January 1, 1913. He stayed for a short time in San Fernando de Atabapo , the then capital of the Amazon state, followed the Casiquiare Canal, which connects the Orinoco river system with the Amazon via the Rio Negro. He returned to Manaus and then to Germany to publish his most important work Vom Roroima zum Orinoco in 1917 .

The Brazilian author Mário de Andrade drew from his diaries and travel logs From Roroima to Orinoco in 1927 for his novel Macunaíma - The Hero Without Any Character ( Macunaíma: o héroi sem nenhum caráter ), one of the main works of modern Brazilian literature. The Colombian film The Shaman and the Snake (original title El abrazo de la serpiente ) by director Ciro Guerra , which was nominated for an Oscar in the category of best foreign language film in 2016, is also based on Koch-Grünberg's notes on his travels in the Amazon region .

Awards and honors (selection)

1918: Carl Ritter Medal
In his hometown Grünberg, both a street and an integrated comprehensive school with upper secondary school, the Theo Koch School Grünberg , are named after him.

Fonts

Beginnings of art in the jungle . Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1905.
Indian types from the Amazon region. After his own recordings during his trip to Brazil . Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin (seven deliveries, 1906–1911).
South American rock art . Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1907.
Two years among the Indians: Travels in Northwest Brazil, 1903–1905 . 2 volumes (1909/1910). Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin.
From the Roroima to the Orinoco. Results of a trip to northern Brazil and Venezuela in the years 1911–1913 . 5 volumes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2009, ISBN 978-1-108-00627-9 (reprint of the Strecker and Schröder editions, Stuttgart 1916–1928).
Michael Kraus (Ed.): The Xingu Expedition (1898–1900). A research diary. Böhlau, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-412-08204-X .
Indian tales from South America . Eugen Diederichs, Jena 1920.

literature

Susanne Ziegler: The wax cylinders of the Berlin phonogram archive. SMPK, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-88609-527-4 , p. 350 f.

Web links

Wikisource: Theodor Koch-Grünberg - Sources and full texts

Works by and about Theodor Koch-Grünberg in the German Digital Library
Videos by and about Theodor Koch-Grünberg in the AV portal of the Technical Information Library
Michael Kraus, University of Marburg, Koch-Grünberg estate

Individual evidence

↑ Altherrenverband der Landsmannschaft Darmstadtia: History of the Landsmannschaft Darmstadtia 1882–1962. Self-published, Gießen 1969, p. 105 u. P. 211.
↑ Michael Kraus (Ed.): Theodor Koch-Grünberg. The Xingu Expedition (1898–1900). A research diary. Cologne 2004, p. 454.
↑ Michael Kraus: From the early days of Homo Ethnologicus. The estate of the South American researcher Theodor Koch-Grünberg. Philipps University of Marburg, as of 2008 [accessed on July 20, 2016].

personal data
SURNAME	Koch-Grünberg, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Koch, Theo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German anthropologist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 9, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH	Grünberg (Hesse)
DATE OF DEATH	October 8, 1924
Place of death	Vista Alegre , Caracaraí , Roraima

[Korporationszugehörigkeit1-1] Altherrenverband der Landsmannschaft Darmstadtia: History of the Landsmannschaft Darmstadtia 1882–1962. Self-published, Gießen 1969, p. 105 u. P. 211.

[Korporationszugehörigkeit2-2] Michael Kraus (Ed.): Theodor Koch-Grünberg. The Xingu Expedition (1898–1900). A research diary. Cologne 2004, p. 454.

[3] Michael Kraus: From the early days of Homo Ethnologicus. The estate of the South American researcher Theodor Koch-Grünberg. Philipps University of Marburg, as of 2008 [accessed on July 20, 2016].