Reassembling the Strange: Global Science, Race, and the Environment of 19th Century Madagascar (2009)
Anderson, Thomas J. (Author)
State University of New York at Binghamton
Fan, Fa-ti
Edition Details: Advisor: Fan, Fa-ti
Physical Details: 282 pp.
Language: English
This dissertation examines how Westerners used science to understanding the island of Madagascar and its environment during the nineteenth century. Madagascar's unusual environment attracted the attention of Western naturalists. Indeed, its unique species forged a perception of Madagascar as a strange land. To incorporate the discovery of peculiar new species into existing scientific theories, to explain Madagascar in a way that made sense with the rest of the world, however, naturalists normalized their findings. Madagascar's strange species were presented as familiar through description, illustrations, and global comparisons. At the heart of this endeavor were naturalists and missionaries who drew upon global experiences and networks to evaluate and comprehend the environment. By stressing similarities and minimizing anomalies, naturalists made choices over how to present Madagascar to the scientific community and the Western world. Further, how Westerners understood the island reveals a dynamic between how local findings were processed and placed into a global framework. In the end, Westerners portrayed Madagascar as a familiar world to better emphasize its potential to be controlled and used by Western science and colonialism. References References (162)
...MoreDescription Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 70/07 (2010). Pub. no. AAT 3366032.
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