Article ID: CBB001320282

What's in a Name? Place, Peoples and Plants in the Danish-Halle Mission, c. 1710--1740 (2013)

unapi

This paper explores the collecting practices of German Protestant missionaries who lived in southern India (c. 1710--1740) as part of the Danish-Halle mission. Asked by their patrons to describe local plants, in situ, these individuals did not respond by carefully studying and describing the plants themselves. Despite being in a position to do this work, instead they chose mostly to engage local residents in conversations about the cultures of the plants in question. These conversations revolved around the origins and meanings of plant names. The missionaries used names, local histories and accounts of peoples as tools for understanding plants found in specific places and to resolve confusion over the similarities and differences between various kinds. They practiced a form of ethno-botany that made the culture(s) of plants accessible to those who would never be able to actually travel to the region.

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Article Smith, Justin E. H.; Delbourgo, James (2013) In Kind: Species of Exchange in Early Modern Science. Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology (p. 299). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001320282/

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Authors & Contributors
Weber, Steven A.
Menon, Minakshi
Michael Joseph
Irving-Stonebraker, Sarah
Bell, Karen L.
Simonsen, Jørgen Bæk
Concepts
Colonialism
Natural history
Scientific expeditions
Botany
Ethnobotany
Plants
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
Prehistory
20th century, early
Ancient
17th century
Places
India
Denmark
Arabian peninsula
Pakistan
Germany
South Asia
Institutions
Natural History Museum (London, England)
Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab
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