In the late 1920s, German anthropologist Egon von Eickstedt set out on a series of expeditions across South and Southeast Asia.
Between 1926 and 1929, his travels took him through India, Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka), and Burma, where he produced an enormous body of work that included nearly 12,000 photographs and more than 2,000 collected objects.
Much of his attention was directed toward Adivasi, or indigenous, communities, and his time in South India, particularly in Kerala, resulted in a striking photographic record of people whose everyday lives and hairstyles were rarely documented in such detail.
Among those he photographed were Dalit communities, whose portraits now offer a rare view into both cultural traditions and personal identity during that period.
Eickstedt’s approach to anthropology was rooted in the racial science of his time. He believed in classifying humanity into distinct racial groups and saw photography as a tool to support his theories.
The images he produced were not only visual records but also evidence intended to bolster his writings, including his major work Rassenkunde und Rassengeschichte der Menschheit (Ethnology and the Race History of Mankind).
Through photographs, measurements, and collected artifacts, he sought to create what he called a “racial history of mankind.”
Yet, while the collection is undeniably rich in ethnographic detail, it cannot be separated from the colonial and racial frameworks in which it was created.
Eickstedt viewed his subjects through the lens of “primitive peoples,” reflecting a worldview that was both hierarchical and steeped in the scientific racism of the early 20th century.
The imbalance of power between the European anthropologist and the people he photographed is evident, and today his work is studied as much for what it reveals about the practices of anthropology in that era as for the cultural insights it offers.
After returning to Germany, Eickstedt became a leading racial theorist. From 1935 to 1944, he served as editor of Zeitschrift für Rassenkunde (Journal of Racial Studies), alongside other prominent racial theorists such as Hans F. K. Günther.
Following the Second World War, he attempted to reframe his academic pursuits, establishing a new journal in 1949 titled International Journal for Comparative Research on Man, which positioned itself as a successor to his earlier editorial work.
He continued to publish and remain active in anthropological circles until his death on December 20, 1965.
(Photo credit: Egon von Eickstedt).