White hunter is a term used for professional big game hunters of European or North American backgrounds who plied their trade in Africa, especially during the first half of the 20th century. The activity continues in the dozen African countries which still permit big-game hunting, but the "white hunter" is now known as the "professional hunter." White hunters derived their income from organizing and leading safaris for paying clients, or from the sale of ivory.
The popular term Great White Hunter emphasizes the racial and colonial aspects of the profession, as well as its colorful aspects. The phrase echoes the privileged status of the white men who earned their living this way. Depending on the author and intention, the term can be used straightforwardly, in parody, or as a critique.
Read more about White Hunter: Hunting in Africa, Rise of The Hunting Safari, Notable White Hunters, Representations in Literature and Film, The Phrase Itself
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or hunter:
“Perhaps anxious politicians may prove that only seventeen white men and five negroes were concerned in the late enterprise; but their very anxiety to prove this might suggest to themselves that all is not told. Why do they still dodge the truth? They are so anxious because of a dim consciousness of the fact, which they do not distinctly face, that at least a million of the free inhabitants of the United States would have rejoiced if it had succeeded. They at most only criticise the tactics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“and the words never said,
And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
We sat in the car park till twenty to one
And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)