Collection(s) : Oxford university studies in the Enlightenment
Paru le 17/01/2018 | Broché XV-274 pages
Public motivé
The name of Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) is inscribed in almost every flora and fauna published from the mid-eighteenth century onwards. However, his rich legacy has been largely overlooked in recent scholarship. In this book a group of specialists argue for the need to re-centre Linnaean science and de-centre Linnaeus the man by exploring the ideas, practices and people connected to his taxonomic innovations.
Contributors examine the various techniques, materials and methods that originated within the « Linnaean workshop » : paper technologies, publication strategies, and markets for specimens. Fresh analyses of the reception of Linnaeus's work in Paris, Königsberg, Edinburgh and beyond offer a window on the local contexts of knowledge transfer, including new perspectives on the history of anthropology and stadial theory. The global implications and negotiated nature of these intellectual, social and material developments are further investigated in chapters tracing the experiences and encounters of Linnaean travellers in Africa, Latin America and South Asia.
Through focusing on the circulation of Linnaean knowledge and placing it within the context of eighteenth-century globalisation, authors provide innovative and important contributions to our understanding of the early modern history of science.
Hanna Hodacs is an associate professor of history at the University of Dalarna. Her research focuses on 18th-century natural history and East Indian trade.
Kenneth Nyberg is an associate professor of history at the University of Gothenburg. His main areas of research encompass Linnaean travel, specifically the global life geographies of individual travellers.
Stéphane Van Damme is professor of the history of science at the European University Institute (Florence). His research examines the origins of early modern scientific knowledge and European culture between 1650 and 1850.
