From the state of nature to the state of ruins: ‘American race’ and ‘savage knowledge’ according to Carl von Martius

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the notions of ‘ruins’, ‘savage knowledge’, and ‘American race’ in the works of the German naturalist Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius. A somewhat neglected figure in the history of anthropology and of natural history, Martius was regarded by scholars from Europe and the Americas as a leading figure in botany and ethnology in the nineteenth century. In this article, I discuss how Martius articulated: the notion of American race, that is, a broad characterization of the native peoples of the Americas rooted in a complex natural history which brought together seemingly disparate fields of knowledge, such as medicine, botany, theology, philology, and mythology; having ruins as a guiding concept, which helped him to make sense of American natives; and savage knowledge – a concept semantically aligned to that of ruins, and among whose principal modes of expression was shamanic practice.