- Becher, Hans. 1972. Herbert Baldus, 1899-1970. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 74, No. 5, (Oct., 1972), pp. 1307-1312.
Despite having read them more than once in the past, I’ve just realized that two texts written by two different authors — Curt Nimuendajú’s obituary written by Herbert Baldus (1946), and Baldus’ obituary written by Becher (1972) — display some strikingly similar passages.
Here’s Baldus’ obituary of Curt Nimuendajú:
- Baldus, Herbert. 1946. Curt Nimuendajú, 1883-1945. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 238-243:
“Nimuendajú was a scrupulous scientist and an incorruptible fighter for his high ideals of justice and charity. During his whole life he fought for the Indians against the representatives of our civilization who invaded their territory with superior arms. For these efforts he was loved by the persecuted, becoming one of them, and with them he suffered the hate of the colonizer for whom "Indians are not people.”
And here’s Becher’s obituary of Herbert Baldus:
- Becher, Hans. 1972. Herbert Baldus, 1899-1970. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 74, No. 5, (Oct., 1972), pp. 1307-1312:
“After a long and weary illness, endured with much patience, the great German-Brasilian anthropologist Professor Dr. Herbert Baldus, a true pioneer and philanthropist of the South-American ethnology, died in Sao Paulo. He was not only an important scientist, but also an incorruptible fighter for high standards of justice and charity.”
So, was Baldus plagiarized in his own obituary? Probably not (at least not as a case of intentional plagiarism). Call me a romantic, but since both Nimuendajú and Baldus were giants of Brazilian anthropology who shared largely the same ideals, I’d rather think this was just a rather felicitous coincidence — a matter of positive poetic justice, even.
Publicado originalmente no Tumblr do autor, em 9/jan/2014