Book ID: CBB566967216

German Science in the Age of Empire: Enterprise, Opportunity and the Schlagintweit Brothers (2019)

unapi

Brescius, Moritz von (Author)


Cambridge University Press


Publication Date: 2019
Physical Details: 428
Language: English

This seminal study explores the national, imperial and indigenous interests at stake in a major survey expedition undertaken by the German Schlagintweit brothers, while in the employ of the East India Company, through South and Central Asia in the 1850s. It argues that German scientists, lacking in this period a formal empire of their own, seized the opportunity presented by other imperial systems to observe, record, collect and loot manuscripts, maps, and museological artefacts that shaped European understandings of the East. Drawing on archival research in three continents, von Brescius vividly explores the dynamics and conflicts of transcultural exploration beyond colonial frontiers in Asia. Analysing the contested careers of these imperial outsiders, he reveals significant changes in the culture of gentlemanly science, the violent negotiation of scientific authority in a transnational arena, and the transition from Humboldtian enquiry to a new disciplinary order. This book offers a new understanding of German science and its role in shaping foreign empires, and provides a revisionist account of the questions of authority and of authenticity in reportage from distant sites.

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Reviewed By

Review David Murphy (2020) Review of "German Science in the Age of Empire: Enterprise, Opportunity and the Schlagintweit Brothers". Metascience: An International Review Journal for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (pp. 103-106). unapi

Review Nicholas A. Germana (2021) Review of "German Science in the Age of Empire: Enterprise, Opportunity and the Schlagintweit Brothers". American Historical Review (pp. 402-403). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB566967216/

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Authors & Contributors
Sarkar, Oyndrila
Fajardo, José del Rey
Arredondo, Jaime Marroquín
Silva, Ignacio Alberto
Wald, Erica
Peterson, Maya Karin
Concepts
Colonialism
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Imperialism
Indigenous peoples; indigeneity
Great Britain, colonies
Science and politics
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
Early modern
18th century
Enlightenment
Places
India
South Asia
Central Asia
Europe
China
Alberta, Canada
Institutions
East India Company (English)
Royal Society of London
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
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