MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Event

Mar 15, 2018
Infrastructures of Natural History

Abstract

This presentation turns to the history of natural history in and around Japan during the second half of the eighteenth century, in order to examine what happens when we think about natural history through the lens of its infrastructures. By affording the passage of humans and their goods, physical and knowledge infrastructures made the accumulation, exchange, and translation of naturalists, as well as the objects and products of their explorations, possible. As part of this examination, the presentation will consider the historical fragility of infrastructures and their components, whether we’re talking about a ship or a taxonomic system, which required great efforts to maintain, improve and replace them. So too will attention be given to the various uses to which the same infrastructures might be put, as well as the various meanings that might be attributed to them. Finally, while addressing the roles played by infrastructures in constructing the investigation and understanding of nature, it will also focus on how elements of nature were recruited as components of infrastructure—sometimes with far-reaching environmental and epistemological consequences.

Organizer(s)
Address

MPIWG, Harnackstraße 5, 14195 Berlin, Germany

Room
Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
Contact and Registration

Any questions you might have about this or further sessions can be addressed to Maria Avxentevskaya.

About This Series

Premodern Conversations is a monthly seminar on pre-modern and early-modern topics, aiming to offer researchers informal space to discuss their work-in-progress. We also hope to provide a convivial meeting place where pre-modernists and early-modernists could find fruitful connections across the intellectual breadth of the MPIWG.

Our sessions usually take place in Room V005, the seminar room of the Villa, Harnackstraße 5. If you have not visited us before, the Villa is 2 minutes walk from the back entrance of the MPIWG. The seminar room is on the ground floor on the right-hand side through the glass fire door. Just in case, please see the map attached.

2018-03-15T15:30:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2018-03-15 15:30:00 2018-03-15 17:00:00 Infrastructures of Natural History Abstract This presentation turns to the history of natural history in and around Japan during the second half of the eighteenth century, in order to examine what happens when we think about natural history through the lens of its infrastructures. By affording the passage of humans and their goods, physical and knowledge infrastructures made the accumulation, exchange, and translation of naturalists, as well as the objects and products of their explorations, possible. As part of this examination, the presentation will consider the historical fragility of infrastructures and their components, whether we’re talking about a ship or a taxonomic system, which required great efforts to maintain, improve and replace them. So too will attention be given to the various uses to which the same infrastructures might be put, as well as the various meanings that might be attributed to them. Finally, while addressing the roles played by infrastructures in constructing the investigation and understanding of nature, it will also focus on how elements of nature were recruited as components of infrastructure—sometimes with far-reaching environmental and epistemological consequences. Maria AvxentevskayaMarius Buning Maria AvxentevskayaMarius Buning Europe/Berlin public