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Locality in the History of Science: Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous KnowledgeAuthor(s): David Wade Chambers and Richard Gillespie
Source: Osiris, 2nd Series, Vol. 15, Nature and Empire: Science and the Colonial Enterprise(2000), pp. 221-240Published by: The University of Chicago Presson behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/301950.
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Locality
n the
History
f
Science:
Colonial
Science,
Technoscience,
and ndigenous nowledge
David WadeChambers*nd Richard
Gillespie**
INTRODUCTION
DURING
THE SECOND HALF OF THE TWENTIETHCENTURY,THE
"colonialworld"
became prominentesearch
ocus
or
historiansf sci-
ence.
n
theprocess f
establishinghisnewsubdivisionf
knowledge,olonial
sciencehistoriansook
ains o clarifyheirse ofthe erm
colonial,"n exercise
that elped efinehe
erminologyf he
arger olonial ndpostcolonialiscourse.'
But these
discussions
ere
more oncerned ith he
meaning f "colonial" han
with he
meaning
f science,"
onsiderationfwhichwas
generallyeft ophiloso-
phers nd
sociologists f knowledge. nd
during his ameperiod, hilosophers,
sociologists,
nd few
historiansvariously
rrayedspositivists,ealists,nd on-
structivists)ere ndeed ontendingver henature f science.t maynowbe seen
that
onstructivist
pproaches,2ecause
hey mphasizehe ocally ontingenthar-
Science nd
Technology
tudies,
eakin
University,eakin,
Victoria,
ustralia.
Museum
Victoria, .P.O.Box
666E,
Melbourne
001,
Australia.
1
The eading cholar n
this nterprise
s
Roy
MacLeod,
whohas
published
mportantheoretical
pieces
providing
refreshing
readth
f
perspective.ee,for
xample,
oy
MacLeod, On Science
and
Colonialism,"
cience nd
Society
n
reland:
TheSocial
Context
f
Science nd
Technology
n
Ireland,
800-1950
Belfast: ueen's
University,997)pp.
1-17;
Reading he
Discourse
f
Colonial
Science,"n
Les
Sciences oloniales:
igures t
nstitutionsParis:
Editions e
'Office
e
la
Recher-
cheScientifiquetTechnique 'Outre-Mer,996)pp.87-96;and OnVisitingheMovingMetropo-
lis':
Reflections
n the
Architecturef
mperial
cience," istorical
ecords f
Australian
cience,
1982,
, 3:1-16. n
addition,
e has
produced
great ange f
ocalityase
studies hat
ange cross
Australia,he
United
Kingdom,
ndia, nd
thePacific.
inally, ehas
edited
many seful
olumes,
such as
Roy
MacLeod
and Richard
Jarrell,
ds., Dominions
part:
Reflections
n
theCulture
f
Science nd
Technology
n Canada
andAustralia,
850-1945
Scientia
anadensis, 994,
17, 1 and
2);
Roy MacLeod
andPhilip
Rehbock, ds.,
Nature
n
its
Greatest
xtent:Western
cience n the
Pacific
Honolulu:
Univ. f
Hawaii
Press, 988);
andRoy
MacLeod
andDeepak
Kumar,ds.,
Tech-
nology nd the
Raj:
Technical
ransferndBritish
ndia,
1780-1945
NewDelhi:
Sage,
1995).
2
There
re
many ossible
ntry oints
nto he
iteraturef
constructivist
hought.n
addition o
books ited n
the ody
f his
aper, ome
ecentitles
hat
rovide useful
verview
nclude:
arry
Barnes,
avid
Bloor, ndJohn
enry,
cientific
nowledge:
Sociological
nalysis
Chicago:
Univ.
ofChicagoPress, 996);PeterGalison ndDavidStump,ds.,TheDisunityf cience:Boundaries,Contexts,ndPower Stanford:tanfordniv.Press, 996); Jan
Golinski,
aking
Natural
Knowl-
edge:
Constructivismnd
the
History f
Science
Cambridge:
ambridge
niv.Press,
1998);Ian
Hacking, he
Social
Constructionf
What?
Cambridge,
ass.:
Harvard
niv. ress,
999);David
Hess, Science
tudies:
AnAdvanced
ntroductionNew
York:
New York
Univ.Press,
997); Karin
?
2001
byThe
History
fScience
Society. ll
rights
eserved.
369-7827/99/1401-0004$02.00
Osiris,
001,
15:00-00
221
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222 DAVID WADE CHAMBERS AND RICHARD GILLESPIE
acter f theknowledge-makingrocess, eldparticularromise ndpowerfulna-
lytic onsequenceor he mergingisciplinef olonial cience istory.3radually,
withinhenewfield, xplicit ommitmento theprevailingositivistssumptions
gaveway o mplicitcceptance fconstructivnisterspectives.
Thismove rom mainly ositivisto a mainly onstructivistrientationas, n
significant easure, mpiricallyriven-not heresult f considered ebate ver
abstractions.Whenan historian tudies particular
ocality,4
bydefinitionne would
expect hatocalityo become he center"f
his
orher nterest.etpositivistolo-
nialhistoriansf, ay, cience
n
New Spainwere,
n
reality,ften riting
he
arger
social and ntellectualistoryf Europe, nd not hehistoryf Mexico,5 eeking
out ocal "traces" fEuropeandeas and ntellectual ovements.6'Europe"' ays
DipeshChakrabarty,remainshe overeignheoreticalubject
f all
histories,
n-
cluding he neswe call Indian,' Chinese,'Kenyan,' nd
o on."7When istorians
sought icher,eeper,thicker"ccounts f ciencennon-Europeanocalities,8hey
soonbecame
issatisfied
ith
nalyses
n
which
very
tandardf ruth
ndrational-
itywas set
n
Europe,
nd n which he
verymeaning
f
"rationality,"enlighten-
ment,"progress,"nd
"useful
nowledge"
adbeendefined
n
that
istantonti-
nent. hus, ittle y ittle, istoriansf ocal science loughed
ff
paradigm
f
Knorr-Cetina,
pistemic Cultures:
How theSciences
Make Knowledge Cambridge,
Mass.:
Harvard
Univ.
ress, 999).
3For
example,
runo atour's
writingsavemade
particularly
seful
ontribution,
oth y
n-
sisting n
eliminating
he
great ivide"
etweencience nd traditional
odes f thought,nd
by
locating hepower f modern cience n its distinctiventernationaletworkf institutions.he
workingsf
that etwork
reatehe
onditionshat
make egible
ndcommensurable
for he enter)
all the bservations,
easurements,
epresentations,
ndtexts roduced
n
thevarious
eripheries.
See especially
Bruno Latour,
Science in Action:
How
to Follow Scientists
nd
Engineers
Through
SocietyCambridge,
ass.:
Harvard niv. ress,
987).
4In this
aper
shalluse the erms
local" and
"locality"
lexiblyo
ndicate places"
n which
science
s
accomplished.
localitymay
e
a
region,
ountry,ity,
reven
singlenstitution,
ncor-
porating
ocial,
ultural,
olitical,
nd conomic
actorsnd
relationships,
nd ncludingoth
enters
and
peripheries.
I
In fact,Mexican
historiansavebeen
somewhatess
Eurocentric
hanhistorians
f science
n
many
ther olonial
ocalities.
evertheless,t
the irst exican olloquium
n the ield September,
1963),
thirty-fourf the
sixty-one apers
presented
erepart
f a symposium
n the
European
Enlightenmentn Latin America.EnriqueBeltrdn, d.,Memorias del PrimerColoquio Mexicano de
Historia e
la
Ciencia,
2 vols.
Mexico
City: ociedad
Mexicana
de Historia
Natural, 964).
The
historyf
Mexican
ciencehas
a venerablend distinguished
isciplinary
istory
ith ntecedents
in
the
nineteenthentury.
ee Enrique
Beltrnn,
Fuentesmexicanas
e
la
historia
e la ciencia,"
Anales de
las Sociedad
Mexicana de Historia de
la
Ciencia
y de la Tecnologia,1970,
2:57-112;
Juan
Jose aldafia,
Marcos
onceptuales
e
la
historia
e las
ciencias n Latino
America:
ositivismo
economicismo,"
l
Perfil
e a ciencia
n
AmericaMexico
City:
ociedad
atinoamericana
e
Hist-
oria
de las Ciencias
y
la
Tecnologia,
986);
and Elias
Trabulse,Aproximaciones
istoriogrnficas
la
ciencia
mexicana,"
Memorias
del
Primer
Congreso
Mexicano de
Historia de
la
Ciencia y
de
la
Tecnologia
MexicoCity:
ociedad
de
Historia e
la Ciencia
y
de
la
Tecnologia, 989),
vol. 1, pp.
5 1-69.
6
See
for
xample,
Roland
D.
Hussey,
Traces
of French
nlightenment
n
Colonial
Hispanic
America,"nLatinAmerica ndthe nlightenment,d. Arthur.Whitaker,nd d. Ithaca:Cornell
Univ.
Press,1961),
pp.
23-51.
This
book,originallyublished
n
1942,
uncovered seful
material
but emains classic
xample
f
project
n
European
istory
ocused
n
Latin
America,
nd
s
one
that
elped et
he genda
orwriting
olonial cience
history.
ll six
of
the
istinguished
ontribut-
ing
cholars
were
pparentlynglish
peaking
nd
basedoutside
atinAmerica.
7Dipesh
Chakrabarty,
Postcoloniality
nd the
Artifice f History:
Who
Speaks
for
Indian'
Pasts?"
Representations,
992, 32:1-26.
8
Clifford eertz
eferredo
the
tudy
f
ocal cases
as "thick
escription,"
ithout
hich
more
general
ultural eanings
nd
power
elationships
annot e
understood.
lifford
eertz,
he
nter-
pretation
f Cultures:
Selected Essays (New
York:
Basic
Books, 1973).
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LOCALITY IN THE
HISTORY OF SCIENCE 223
cultural
deficit,
eplacing
t with
paradigm
f
cultural
ifference.
ithin
he
"big
picture"
Europe
was
progressively
decentered,"9
nd in a
very
real
sense,
science
was also decentered.
PERIPHERAL CENTERS AND CENTRAL PERIPHERIES
Because
modern cience arose
principally
n one
geographicocale,'0
historians f
science had taken
hewheel
as
the
metaphor
or ts nternational
tructure:
ts
center
was
in
Europe displaced
this
entury
o the
mid-Atlantic),
ith herest f theworld
revolving round.But the
metaphor
f
the
wheel is
exceedinglymisleading. rom
the
timeof ts cosmopolitan irth
n
the
correspondence
f MarinMersenne
1588-
1648)
and
Henry
Oldenburg 1618-1677)
and n
nstitutionsike themuch
neglected
Casa
de la
Contratacion
n
Seville
(1539?),
the Florentine
ccademia
del
Cimento
(1657), and theRoyal SocietyofLondon (1660), modern cience is better nder-
stood,
both
metaphorically
nd
actually,
s a
polycentric
ommunications etwork."
During
the nineteenthnd
twentiethenturies hatnetworkwas
fully nstitutional-
ized, which
represented
revolution
n
knowledgemaking
more
ignificant
orboth
science and
society
han
the theoretical dvances of
the seventeenth
entury
radi-
tionally
known s the Scientific
evolution.
hus,
from he
very
beginnings f
the
scientific
movement,
Centrality
r
peripherality
as not
primarily
matterf
geographical
ocation,
ut he
combinedffect fsocial, cientific,nd-not the east-powerrelations.
..
Scien-
tists,
ike
other
eople,
ore
dentities,hey elonged omewhere,nd
they
were
oyal
to
something.
venmore
mportantly,
he
daily ctivitiesf scientists ere arried ut
in a
frameworkf nstitutions,gendas, areer
pportunities,
orkinganguage, inan-
cial
support
nd
patronageystems.'2
This is
to suggest hat he dea of science
havinga European
center nd a global
periphery erpetrated
confusing,
nd
ultimately purious,
understandingf the
relations
f science andplace. Then and now,
Europe had major
centers,minor en-
ters, ndperipheries; ities ike London, ndeed,had centralnstitutionsnd periph-
eral
institutions. f
course,progressivelyther ocalities
developed scientific en-
ters
nd
peripheries.
urthermore,ithin urope and without,
enters ose and fell.
9Andrew
Cunningham
nd
Perry
Williams,
Decentring
he
Big
Picture': he
Origins
f
Modem
Science and the
Modem
Origins
f
Science,"British
ournal
f
the
History f
Science,1993,
26:407-32.
10
"Modem
cience" s
distinguishedy
ts
nstitutions,
rocedures,
nd
technologies.
ItSee
Latour,
cience n
Action
cit.
n.
3), pp.
215-57,
and
Steven
hapin
nd Simon
Schaffer,
Leviathan nd
the
Air-PumpPrinceton:
rinceton
niv.
Press,1985).
Sverker
orlinhas
given
cleardescriptionfearly rocessesf cientificnternationalization:National nd nternationals-
pects
f
Cross-Boundary
cience: cientific
ravel n
the18th
entury,"
n
Denationalizingcience:
The
Contexts
f
nternational
cientific
ractice, ds.
Elizabeth
rawford,erry
hinn, nd
Sverker
Sorlin
Dordrecht:
luwer,
993),
pp. 43-72. See
also Lorraine
aston, The deal and
Reality
f
the
Republic
f
Lettersn the
Enlightenment,"
cience n
Context,
991,
:367-86;
and for he
ole
of theCasa
de la
Contrataci6n,ee
David
Turnbull,
Cartographynd
Science n
Early
Modern
Europe:
Mapping he
Construction
f
Knowledge
paces,"
mago
Mundi, 996,
8:7-14,
ndJ.Pul-
ido
Rubio,El
Pilotomayor
e la
Casa de
Contrataci6ne
Sevilla
Sevilla:
Escuelade
Estudios
Hispano-Americanos,
950).
12
Sorlin,
National nd
nternational"
cit.n.
11),p.
45.
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5/21
224
DAVID
WADE
CHAMBERS
AND
RICHARD
GILLESPIE
Andwhenever
scientific
enter
rosewithin
locality,
oth
cience nd
he
ocality
were hanged
y he vent.'3
Eurocentric
xplanations
f thegrowth
f science
eceived
great oost
with
the ppearance
f
historian
eorge
asalla's
widely
nown
model
describing
the
introductionf modem cience nto nynon-Europeanation."'The modelpre-
dicted
hat ocalities
eripheral
o
theEuropean
enterwould
progressively
re-
ceive" he
deas
ofWesterncience,
lowly stablishing
heir wn cientific
rgani-
zations
nd
personnel,
erhaps roducing
long he
way few heroes f
colonial
science.""5
n thefinal tage,
fter
he
colony
had
accomplished
seven asks,"
broad
nd independent"
nstitutional
upport
ase for cience
wouldhavebeen
s-
tablished,
hus llowing
hegiven
ocality o
compete
cientifically
n the
world
f
nations.
6
The
seven
asks,
which re
rarely
iscussed
n the ritical
iterature,
n-
cluded
uch ctivities
s
"overcoming"
nd ventuallyeradicating"
ecalcitrant
o-
cal "philosophicalndreligious eliefs,"oundingcientificocieties patterned
after"
hemajor
uropean
rganizations,
nd mporting
uropean
echnologies.
his
unrelenting
urocentrism
as only ne
ofthemany
easons
hathe
Basalla
model
was
finallyejected
y
most
istorians.'7
COLONIAL
TO NATIONALTRAJECTORIES
Basalla's
model
was
nitially
ttractive
ecause t
showed-in fact, eemed
o pre-
scribe-the
traight
ndnarrow
ath
o
national
cientific
evelopment.
ach
ocal-
itywas torise n nvariantequence rom colonial oa nationaltage, romcien-
tific ependency
o
utonomy.
olonial
cience
was,
n
effect,
onsidered
scientific
adolescence
hat
might
ventually
row
with
henew
nation-states
nto he
maturity
that urope
had
ong
ince chieved.
n
countries
ikeAustralia,
here
uropean
settlers
redominated,
hepredictive
apacity
f themodel
might,
t
first
lance,
seem eliable.
n
ust
little
ver
wohundred
ears,
ustralia
moved rom
ts
first
European
cientificxpedition
Cook/Banks)
hrough
clearly
colonial"
eriod
o
a
remarkable
egree
f national
cientific
ophistication.
elbourne,
or
nstance,
is a
locality
hat eemingly
orms
perfect
xemplar
f
how
this an
happen.
he
storyf he ity'smove romcientificeripheryo cientificenterevelopsround
the
person
f Frank
Macfarlane
urnet
1899-1985),
whobecame
n
outstanding
13
Bruno
atour,
Give
Me a
Laboratory
nd
Will Raise
the
World,"
n Science
Observed,
ds.
Karin
Knorr-Cetina
nd
Michael
Mulkay
London:
age,
1983),pp.
141-70.
14
George
Basalla,
"The Spread
fWesterncience," cience, 967,
15:611-21.
This
paper,
er-
haps
more
han ny
other,
et the
nitial
esearch
arameters
or
olonial
cience
history.
atrick
Petitjean
musingly
ndaccurately
escribes
asalla's
model
s thework
le
plus
cit6,
t
le plus
refut6
ussi"
by
historians
f
cienceworking
n
the
ield.
atrick
etitjean,
Sciences
t
empires:
n
th6me
rom6tteur,
es enjeux
ruciaux,"
n Science
nd
Empires:
istorical
tudies
bout
cientific
DevelopmentndEuropean xpansion,ds.Patrick etitjean,atherineami,ndAnneMarieMou-
lin
Dordrecht:
luwer,
992),
p.
6.
15
Basalla,
Spread
fWestern
cience"
cit.
n.
14),
p.
614.
16
ibid.,
pp.
617-20.
17
Although
thasbeen
ubjected
odevastating
ritique,
asalla's
model
ontinues
o
becited
ong
after very
estige
f
ts xplanatory
ower
asdisappeared.
he
"fall"
f
themodel
mong
istori-
ans
of science
has been
welldocumented.
his iterature
s extensively
eviewed
n
David
Wade
Chambers,
Locality
nd Science:Myths
f Centre
nd
Periphery,"
n
Mundializaciin
e la
ciencia
y cultural
acional,
ds.
Antonio afuente,
lberto lena,
nd
Maria
Luisa
Ortega
Madrid:
oce
Calles,
1993),pp.
605-18.
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LOCALITY
IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE
225
theoretician
f
virology
nd
mmunology.'8
urnet eclined hairs
t Harvard
nd
in
London,
s
he
was
determined
o make
Melbourne n
international
enter
or
medical esearch. e
eventually
ttractedeveral uture obel aureates o
work
with
him.Today,
Melbourne as seven
major nstitutes
or
medical esearch
nd
currentlyttractsixty-fourercentfthe nstitutionalwards rom ustralia's a-
tionalHealth nd
MedicalResearch
ouncil.19
Thus, specially or he neo-Europes"f
the
olonial
world,20
heremighteem
tobe
a
hopeful
nd
discerningongruity
n
Basalla's
chema,
specially
n
tspostu-
lation f a clearnexus
etween cientific
ctivity
ndnation
uilding.
f
themodel
works
nywhere,ne
might xpect
t to
be
in
those
ountrieshat
ad
thedecided
"advantage"
f
European ultural,egal,
economic,
nd
technologicalrame-
works-that
s to
say,
n
the olonies
f
those ations hose ocioeconomicondi-
tions adfirst
iven
ise
o
modern
cience. his
s
especially
rue
n
nvader/settler
societies,21
ikeAustralia, here estructionf the ndigenesnd their raditional
cultures adbeen
ruthlesslyccomplished,herebyffectively
liminatingheneed
to
"eradicate"nd
replace" revailingraditionalhilosophies,
he irstfBasalla's
seven
asks f
Europeanization.ustralia,lthoughbsessed
with tsgreat istance
in
kilometersrom
urope,was socially, ulturally,olitically,
conomically,nd
racially loser
o
Europe hanmost fEurope's earneighbors
such s Egypt, ur-
key, nd
many arts f
he ormerovietUnion).22ut he
pparentit f heBasalla
schema
ven
with
he
Australianase lastsonly hrough
very uperficialead-
ing; ndeed, omeofthe
model's eading
riticsctually se Australias a counter-
example.23t thevery east, heAustraliantorys "richernd more omplex"
than
heBasalla model
llows.24
In
Roy MacLeod's
aptphrase, science
became convenient etaphor.. for
18
Of
Australia'six
Nobel Prize
winnersn the
ciences nd
medicine,
ll
but
Macfarlane
urnet
spent
most
f
their
rofessionalareers
broad.
19
hristopher
exton, urnet:
Life,
ev.
d.
(Oxford: xford
niv.
Press,
999).
For a
detailed
account
f the
Walter nd Eliza
Hall
Institute,ee
Max
Charlesworth,
t
al.,
eds.,
Life
Among
he
Scientists
Melbourne: xford
Univ.
Press,1989).
The
Melbourne
ase was
suggested
y
Barry
Jones, ormer
ustralian inisteror
cience
nd
technology,ersonal
ommunication,
999.
20
AlfredW.Crosby,cological mperialism:heBiologicalExpansion fEurope Cambridge:
Cambridge niv.
Press,
1986).
Crosby
ffers
cological xplanations
or
he
quick
demographic
dominance
chieved
n
"neo-Europes.'
ora
more ecent
nd
very
nterestingreatment
f environ-
mental
istoryssues
n which
olonialism
and
particularly
olonial
cience)play
role,
ee two
recent
ooksbyRichard
rove,
Green
mperialism:
olonial
Expansion,
ropicalsland
Edens nd
the
Origins f
Environmentalism,
600-1860
Cambridge:
ambridgeniv.
ress,
995) andEcol-
ogy,
limate
nd
Empire:
olonialism nd
Global
Environmental
istory,
400-1940
N.P.,White
HorsePress,
998).
21
The term
settler
ociety" hould
ot
be used. t
conveys n
naccurate
icture
f
the
uropean
invasion nd s
offensive
o
the
memoriesf
millions
whodied n
the
peaceful-sounding
rocess f
"settlement."
ee
Henry
eynolds, rontier:
borigines,
ettlers
ndLand
Sydney:
llen nd Un-
win,
987),
pp. 192-3;
A.
Grenfellrice,
White
ettlers
ndNative
eoples
Cambridge:
ambridge
Univ. ress, 950), ndTomGriffithsndLibbyRobin, cology ndEmpire: nvironmentalistory
of
Settler
ocieties
Carlton:
Melbourne niv.
ress, 997).
22
See
David
Wade
Chambers, Does
Distance
Tyrannize
cience?" n
International
cience
and
National
cientific
dentity,
ds. R.
W. Home
andSally
Gregory
ohlstedt
Dordrecht:
luwer,
1991).
23
In
particular,
ee
MacLeod,
Moving
Metropolis"cit.n.
1),pp.1-16,
nd
an nkster,
Scientific
Enterprisendthe
Colonial
Model':
Observations
n
Australian
xperience
n
Historical
ontext,"
Social
Studies
f cience,
985,
15:677-704.
24
R.W.
Home,
Introduction,"
n
Australian
cience n
the
Making,
d. R.W.
Home
Cambridge:
Cambridge niv.
Press,
988),p.
x.
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226 DAVID WADE
CHAMBERS AND RICHARD
GILLESPIE
what he mpire
might ecome."25ndeed,
or olonial cientists,cience
erved s
metaphor
nd means f egitimateolonial
spiration.ventually,oth
olonizer
and olonized
ame obelievehat he romotion
f cience lso promoted
he ause
of ndependence.
or example,fterosing
hevastmajorityf her
mpire, pain
was not lowto sabotageocal attemptso reformnd modernizeducationalnd
scientificnstitutionsn such emaining
olonies s Puerto
ico andCuba.Without
a doubt, n
both idesofthe olonial ivide,
ciencewas
seen o provide mecha-
nism orncreasedolonial
utonomynd elf-sufficiency.26
ndwe
may peculate
that
he ong-lastingopularity
f theBasallamodel
may ie in ts cleardepiction
of
staged
cientificrowth oving ver
nationward.
It s sometimes
orgottenhat asalla's
threetagemodel"
wasdeeply nsconced
in the ntellectual
ssumptions,ot o mention
he old
war deological aggage, f
the
arly
heoriesfdevelopment.is famous
ssay ppeared henW.
W.Rostow's
Stages fEconomic rowth,ublishedevenyears arlier,27asattheheight f ts
influence.ostow's ive tages
recisely arallel asalla's
hree tages.
f Rostow's
model
rovides
he
conomic evelopment
orollaryfmodernization
heory,as-
alla's similar
model
lays
kindred
olefor
cientific
evelopment.
ut
there
were
flies
nthe intmentfmodernizationheory:
ome egionsouldnot scape
perpet-
ual underdevelopment,
ependency,
xploitation,r cultural
reakdown.n signifi-
cant measure,
heseproblems edeviling
orld conomic evelopment-which
have
iscreditedstages
f conomic
rowth"
heories-also
nfecthe
nternational
science
ystem.
n
otherwords,many
ocalities re
held
structurally
n scientific
underdevelopmentueto such actorss brain rain,hehigh osts ftechnoscien-
tificabs and
equipment,nability
o
support
hefull
ange
f scientific
isciplines
in
any ne ocality,nd
subjugatedosition
n the nstitutionalelations
fknowl-
edge
nd
power.
The Basalla/Rostow
pproach
o
modernization
ssumes
hat
he
patterns
hat
characterized
cientific/economic
evelopment
n heWest
rovide
model
or ther
localities
round
heworld
o follow.Withoutonsiderable
odification
his
s-
sumption
s
effectively
lind o both
history
nd
culture,
nd
s
premised
n
the
notion hat
pre-scientific"
ocalities,oday,
tart
rom
position
imilar
o
Europe's
beforecientificake-offundredsfyears go.Furthermore,hephilosophy,eli-
gious
eliefs, alues,
nd
nstitutions
f raditional
ocieties re
onsidered
robable
obstacles,
n
effect,
o much haff
o
be
blown
way
on
thewinds
f
scientific
change.28
These considerationslone-without
urveying
hefull
ritique
hat
has
been
mounted
ver
he ast
wentyears gainst
taged,
inear,
nd
progressive
odels-
suggest
he eed or
new ramework
or
omparing
istories
f
ocal
cience.
rom
the xtensive
iscussion
fthe
Basalla
model ver
he
years,
e have
earnedmuch
about
ow uch
framework
ught
o ook.
t should e
symmetrical
nd
nteractive
across he reat ivides-center/periphery,ocal/global,ational/colonial,nd radi-
25
MacLeod,
Moving
Metropolis"
cit.
n. 1),
p. 244.
26
See David
Wade
Chambers,
ames .
McClellan,
nd
Heidi
Zogbaum,
Science/Nation/Culture
in the
Caribbean
asin,"
n Cambridge
istory f
cience,
d.
Ronald
Numbers,
ol. 8
(Cambridge:
Cambridge
niv. ress,
orthcoming).
27
W.
W.
Rostow, tages
f
Economic
Growth
Cambridge:
ambridge
niv.
ress,
960).
28
Michael
Shermer,
WhyPeople
Believe Weird
Things.
PseudoScience,
Superstition
nd Other
Confusions
f
our Time
New
York:
Freeman,
1997).
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LOCALITY
IN THE HISTORY
OF SCIENCE 227
Figure
1.
Joseph
alton
Hooker
n
the
Himalayas
eceiving
olonial ributes
in
this ase
scientifically
ndescribed
hododendrons).
ooker
nsisted
hat
lants
e sent o Kew
Gardenso bedescribed;ndigenouseople nd colonial otanistsadonlyocal
knowledge.y
William
ayler
1849).
Reproduced
ith
ermissionf
heTrustees
f
he
Royal
Botanic
Gardens,
ew.)
tional/modern.t should
e
nonlinear,
onstaged,
nd
nonprescriptive,
ut t should
specify
setof
parameters
hat llow
systematic
omparison
f
the
great rray
f
independent
nd
nterdependent
ocal histories
f
the
production,pplication,
nd
diffusionfnatural
nowledge.
t should e
dynamic
ndflexiblendshould
den-
tify
ectorsf
ommunication,
xchange,
nd
ontrol.
inally,
he
rameworkhould
take areful ote fthe ocial nfrastructureshat
upport nowledge
ork n both
"Western"nd traditional"
ettings,
ithout
rivileging
ne
knowledgeystem
ver
the
other,
hus
llowing
xaminationf both ocal and
global contingencies
f
knowledge
roduction
nd
nculcation
n the hosen
ocality.29
29
Needless o
say, his s a tall rder.
t s no wonder hat omehave
uggestedtunlikely
hat uch
a modelwill
everbe devised,
specially onsidering
he
ultural,ocial, nd economic
iversity
f
the ases forwhich
hemodelmust ccount ee
Petitjean, ami, nd
Moulin, cience nd Empires
(cit.n. 14), pp. 6-9.
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228
DAVID WADE
CHAMBERS AND RICHARD GILLESPIE
SCIENCE AND
PLACE
How
does
onearticulatehe lace ofknowledger he ocality
f cience? o some,
evento
formulateuch questions nonsense. ccordingo
intellectualegacies
inheritedromheGreeks nd,more ecently,rommpiricistortrayalsf cientific
knowledge,the laceofknowledge
s nowherenparticular
nd nywheretall."30
In other ords, nder he ld
philosophicalaradigm,the ignificancefplace s
dissolved."'3'ot urprisingly,hen,
istoriansf cience ave,
n thewhole, hown
little
nterestn the omplexnteractionsf cience ndplace.32
xigencies fplace
might
ave
been eento
presentbstacles
gainst,
r
encouragementor, oing
r
applying
cience, ut o-called
xternalistxplanationsavebeen effectivelyso-
lated rom
he entralrocesses f
knowledgeonstruction.n the ther and, olo-
nial science istorians
ery arly egan
orealize
hat
heir
tories eremade nter-
esting rimarilyyparametersf ocality.33
ParametersfLocality
Until
ecently
ithin he
field,
hemost
ommonly
ound
nit
f
ocality
was the
colony r thenation-state.ut to confine ur nteresto national ases wouldbe
arbitrary,
eedlesslyimiting,
nd
ultimately
nsound. ocalitiesmark
he ntersec-
tion f
history,nvironment,
anguage,
nd
culture,
nd
geographic
oundariesre
onlyone
of the
possible
desiderata
n
defining
case
study.
ocalities
may
be
bounded ytangibles,uch s socioeconomicircumstances,egalities,olonizing
forces,
opographies,
nd
technologies;
nd
by abstractions,
uch s beliefs bout
time, pace,
nd
progress.heymay
e further
haped y
such
actors
s
race
and
gender,deology,
nd
religious
elief. o
define
scientific
ocality,hen,
s
simply
to nominate local frame freference
ithin
hich
we
may
sefully
xamine
he
roleof
knowledge
onstructionnd nculcation.
30
See Steven
hapin's
elightfulssay
xamininghe
ocial uses
of solitude,'The
Mind
s Its
OwnPlace':
Science nd
Solituden Seventeenth-Century
ngland,"
ci. Context,990,
:191-218,
quotation
np.
191.Shapin lso
remindss that
Mostwriters
ho nsist oth n the lobal
haracter
ofmathematicalnd cientificnowledgend tsuniversalpplicationend o overlookhemmense
amount
f work hat
s done to create nd sustain
he rtificialnd formal
nvironments
n
which
'application'
appens,"
. 209.See also
Adi Ophir ndSteven
hapin, The
Place ofKnowledge:
Methodologicalurvey,'
ci. Context,
991,4:3-21;
and
Steven hapin,
Placing heView
from
Nowhere:
Historical
nd
Sociological
Problems
n theLocation
f
Science,"
Transactions
fthe
Institute
fBritish eographers,
. s., 1998, 3:5-12.
31
Joseph
ouse,
Knowledge
nd Power Ithaca:Cornell
Univ.
Press,1987),p.
77. This book
s
still xtremelyaluable
or olonial
ciencehistorians
eginningo
think bout
he oncept f
ocal
knowledge.
32
Theramifications
ftaking
place" eriously
avebeen
xtensivelyiscussed
n theoretical
rit-
ings
n
many ields,
uch s geography,
nthropology,
ostcolonialtudies,
ndfeministtudies.
ee
for xample, onna
Haraway,imians,
yborgs,
nd
Women:
heReinventionfNatureNew
York:
Routledge,991),pp.183-202;MichaelKeith ndStevePile, ds.,Placeand the olitics f dentity
(London:
Routledge,
993); Bill
Ashcroft,
arethGriffiths,
nd Helen
Tiffen, ds.,
ThePost-
Colonial
Reader
London:
Routledge,
995),
nd others itedbelow.
or furtheriscussionf
the
notion fknowledge
spaces'"
ee DavidTurnbull,Reframing
cience
nd
Other ocal Knowledge
Traditions,"
utures,
997, 9,
6:551-62;Stanley
eyerada
ambiah, agic,
Science,Religion,
nd
the cope ofRationality
Cambridge:
ambridge
niv.
Press,
990);
Edward
W.
Soja,
Thirdspace:
Journeys
oLos Angeles
nd Other eal-and-Imagined
laces
Cambridge,
ass.:
Blackwell,
996);
and
homi
habha,
he
Location
f
Culture
New
York:
Routledge,
994).
33
As we have een,
he
diffusionist
lant f theBasalla model llowed
us to maintain
he
fiction
thatwe
were
ealing
with niversal
ruths
ariously
ransmitted
nd
pplied.
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LOCALITY
IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE
229
Whatdoes this
pproach
mean
for tudies
f, ay,
he
history
f Caribbean
ci-
ence?One
might
efine he
ocality eographically
s the hain
f
slands,
r as
a
particularsland,
r as the ntire asin
ncluding
n outer im
eaching
o
North,
Central,
ndSouth
America.
dditionally,
ne
might
ook t the rea s a
"colonial
locality,"ithin hich numberfempirescted nd nteractedver particular
time rame. r the olonial
ocalitymightimply
e made
up
ofthe
panish
olo-
nies.Alternatively,
ne
might
onstruct"traditional
nowledge
ocality,"
xamin-
ing
how tribal
nowledge
as constituted
nd the ntellectualoles
t
played.
n
MexicoCity,
universityocality
or
he
onstructionf
knowledge ight
e differ-
entiated rom
mining-schoolocality.
or some
purposes,
heworld f
medicine
andhealth
might
e
seen
o
constitute
separate nowledge
pace.
And o on.
Such
nterpretive
lexibility,llowing verlapping
ierarchies
f
ocality
within
a
singlegeographical
rea,might
eem
daunting
o thehistorian.lifford
eertz
commentshat,ntryingoexplain henomena,o turn romnvoking asterarra-
tives
"grand exturesfcause nd
ffect")
o
providing
localframes
f wareness"
is to
exchange a set of well-chartedifficulties
or
set
of largely ncharted
ones."34 ut colonialhistoriansf
sciencehave
lready
egunmapping
hese n-
chartedocalities; ne
might
ven
ay hat heir evelopingocus n ocalitys one
of thefield's
reatestchievementsithinhe
historyf science. he problem e-
mains, owever,hat
f
we do not ind separateother"
antage oint rom hich
to
nterpret
nd
ompare-whether e call t
masterarrative,heoretical odel, r
third
pace-we
are leftwith he
certainty
f
sinkingnto vastsea of nativist
ethnohistories.
Is
this n nfinite
egress,eading n one directiono
solipsismnd n the ther o
a
pretense f
universal bjectivityhat ides he
ubjugationf ocal culture nd
local knowledge?
erhaps hebestwayforward,asedonwhatwe have earned,s
to
construct new,
more esponsive,emocratic,ndself-questioninglobaldis-
course.35
hisprocesswouldnecessarilyourishnd
ustain he ocal historiesnd
local
cultureshat lone
anprovideexternal"ritiquef
hemodernityrojectnd
the
tructuresf
power hat
t
affords.he ocal and he
global re dialectical air
and
must emain o in
ourhistories.36
Vectors
fAssemblage
In
any olonial ocality,ectors f assemblage ncompass
lementsf process nd
of
accumulation:he
historicalmplacementf the
nstitutionalnd thephysical
frameworkor
cience. elling his tory as been he
majorwork fmost olonial
science
istorians.he ocal
scientificnfrastructures
madeup not nly forgani-
zations, uildings, useums, ardens,aboratories,
nstruments,hemicals, iner-
als, disciplines,
chools, extbooks,nd ournals, ut lso of deas and strategies,
34
Clifford
eertz, ocal
Knowledge:
urther
ssays n
nterpretive
nthropologyNewYork:
Ba-
sic
Books, 1983),p.
6.
35
Chakrabarty
alls
for a
history
hat
eliberately
akes
visible,
within he
very
tructure
f ts
narrative
orms,ts
own
repressive
trategies
nd
practices"
hakrabarty,
Postcoloniality"
cit.n.
7), p.
25.
36
See also
EdwardW
Said,
"Figures,
onfigurations,
ransfigurations"
ace and
Class,
1990,
32:1-16;
Katherine
ayles, haos
Bound:
Orderly
isordern
Contemporary
iterature
nd
Science
(Ithaca:Cornell
Univ.
Press,
990),pp.
213-14; and
DavidTurnbull,
Local
Knowledgend Com-
parative
cientific
raditions,"
nowledge
nd
Policy,
993-4,
6:29-54.
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11/21
230 DAVID WADE
CHAMBERS AND RICHARD
GILLESPIE
metaphors,
heoriesnd axonomies,
alues, ommunitiesftrainedersonnel,nd
newsocioprofessionalolesfor hem
o fill.David Turnbull
sefullyuggests he
use of
Deleuze ndGuattari'sermassemblage"odenote,nhis
words,his amal-
gam
of
places,bodies, oices, kills, ractices,echnical
evices, heories,ocialstrategiesnd collective ork hat ogetheronstituteechnoscientificnowledge/
practices."
heterm vectorsf ssemblage"uggestsctive nd
volving ractices
as well s
the onstructedocial nd
physicalnvironments.orhistorians,he erm
"implies
constructedobustness ithout fullynterpretednd
greed pon heo-
retical ramework."37n truth,here
s a fine ssortmentftheoreticalpproaches
that lluminateur understandingf
thevarious lements f
this ssemblage f
people, laces, deas, nd hings:
iography,nvironmental
istory, edical istory,
culturaltudies,materialulture,eminist
heory,tc.
In
colonial
ocalities,
he ectors
f
assemblageustain he mperial etropolitan
connectiono the cience ystem,ut fdeliberatelyo constructeday lso allow
the ttainment
f
nationalistulturalnd
socioeconomicbjectives. lthoughx-
ceedingly
are,
n
some
ases
these
nstitutionsay rovide base
for he
reserva-
tion
of traditionalocal
knowledge
ystems.38ecently,ebates
ver
ntellectual
propertyave
recognizedhe
valueof
ndigenous nowledgef taxonomyn rela-
tion o
health,
utthe
resultingropertyaws,ratherhan
rotectingndigenous
rights,
ave ften erved
o
transform
his
knowledge
nto
ommodities,rofitable
only
o
largecorporations.39
his
development
as now
progressed
o
the
point
where
ny
nalysis
f
the nfrastructuref
ate-twentieth-century
ciencemust ook
at thevectorsf ssemblageevoted o commodificationnscience,ncludinguch
socialmechanismss
copyright
aws nd
he
rivatization
f
universityesearch,
s
well
s
the
ppropriation
f
ndigenous
nowledge.
Around
he
globe, ndigenous
oiceshavebeenraised
gainst
hese
hanges
n
the
nfrastructure
f
technoscience-changes
hat hreaten
he
traditionalocial
ethos ndmoral
conomy
f cience
s
much
s the
ights
f
ndigenouseoples.
n
the
words f
Victoria
auli-Corpus,
We re old hat
he
ompanies
ave ntellectual
propertyights
ver
these
geneticplant
materials
.
.
this
ogic
is
beyond
us .
.
. we
indigenous
eoples
..
have
developed
nd
preserved
hese
lants
ver
housands
ofyears."4"ounderstandheweightfTauli-Corpus'srgument,t s usefulocon-
siderwhat ies
behind er se ofthewords
developed
nd
preserved."
side
from
See
Turnbull,
Local
Knowledge"cit.
n. 36),
p. 34.
38
In nineteenth-century
exico,
for xample, here
was an attempt,
specially
y Jos6Antonio
Alzate,
o
upport
he ndigenous
aturalaxonomies
atherhan hose fLinnaeus.
ee,
for
xample,
Patricia ceves
Pastrana,
uimica,
otdnica
farmacia
n aNueva
Espara
a
finales
el
siglo
XVIII
(Mexico
City:
Universidadut6noma
etropolitana,
993),
pp. 55-74. n some
ocalities raditional
medicine as beenpartially
ustained,
r at east olerated,
n relation
oWestern
edical ractice.
39
The intellectualroperty
ights
ebatehas
now givenrise to
its own
arge iterature,
hich
cannot e reviewed eredueto lackof space.Butsee C. Lind,"The Idea of CapitalismrtheCapitalismf deas? A MoralCritiquef theCopyrightct,"ntellectualroperty ournal, 991,
7:70-4;
E.
C.
Hettinger,Justifying
ntellectual
roperty",
hilosophy
nd PublicAffairs,
989: 35;
andLaurieA.
Whitt,Cultural
mperialismnd
the
MarketingfNativeAmerica,"
merican
ndian
and Culture esearch
ournal,
995,19:1-31.
40
Victoria
auli-Corpus,We
ArePart
f Biodiversity,
espectOurRights,"
hird
World esur-
gence,1993,
36:25, quoted
n
Laurie
A. Whitt,Metaphor
nd
Power nIndigenous
nd
Western
Knowledge
ystems,"
nternational
onference
n Working isparate
Knowledge raditions
o-
gether,
eakinUniversity,
ictoria,
ustralia,
994.
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LOCALITY IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 231
the act hatndigenous
odies
f
knowledge ay
ften e
sophisticated
n
content,
as has
been
ncreasinglyecognized
n areas ike
axonomy,ndigenous
nowledge
localities mploy omplex
ectors f
assemblage,
hich
may
nclude
maps,
alen-
dars, rainingfpersonnel,echniques,rocedures,kills,manipulationfmaterial,interpretationfresults,rediction, eetings,nd he reparationf exts.4'n other
words, ndigenous
nvolvement
n the
production
f natural
nowledge
s
neither
trivial or
nconsequential.y exploringndigenous nowledge
ocalities n the
sameway hatweexploreWesterncientific
ocalities,
e attain better
osition
for
ffective
omparison
fthese
uitedisparate nowledgeystems.42
NetworkfExchange
nd Control
As the
rocess
f
ssemblageevelops
n
ny ocality,
ital onnections
nd
inkages
are madebothocally nd nternationally.e have eenhowthe etter ritersnd
travelers
f he
arly ciencemovemented na directine othe irst
lobal nforma-
tionnetwork.his network,
he
nternationalcience ystem,
ecomes vermore
polycentricndhierarchical,ith
major nd
minor
enters nd close and
distant
peripheries
efined
ot
geographically
ut
n
terms f cientific
uthority
nd ocial
power. henetworkncludesaboratories,ournals, ublic nd
privateundinggen-
cies, museums,ibraries,
ducationalnstitutions,orporations,
octors' urgeries,
administrative
eports,
nd so on. It is
important
o
keep the
ssemblage nd
the
exchange
etwork
nalyticallyeparate,lthoughoth rerequiredo
participaten
moderncience.Other nowledge ystems avetheir wnassemblages nd net-
works, ut
he
fact hat
hey re socially ncommensurableay,n
some ases,be
more
mportant
han
heir
onceptual ifferences.
Inthe onglomerate
ectors f assemblage hat orm he ocal
infrastructuref
technoscience,
ost
eople nd hingsre ied irectlynto he
nternationalcience
system.
his
ystem
oes
such ariedwork s formulaterioritiesor
esearchund-
ing, rivilegeertainmodes f nquiry,et tandardsor he ize of
things,uthor-
ize
knowledge laims, ndestablish egimes f cultural
ransmission,ncluding
educationnd
popularization.
he
historyfcolonial cience s
arguablyittlemore
than he radual onnectionf heocalitynto his lobal cientificommunications
41
Many
fthese lements
avebeen
ntirelyverlookedr
underestimateds
parts
f
knowledge
production
nd
communication.
exts, or
xample,
may
be
inculcatedn
song, ance,
rchitecture,
andceremonial
usiness.
alendars ave eceived
ome
ttention,
utuntil
ery
ecently
ndigenous
mapmakingraditionsere
ompletelyndervalueds
evidence f
sophisticated
atural
nowledge.
See David
Turnbull, aps
Are
Territories:
cience s an
Atlas
Chicago:Univ.of
Chicago
Press,
1993),pp.
19-53; David
Woodward
nd
G. Malcolm
Lewis,eds.,
Cartographynthe
Traditional
African,
merican,rctic,
ustralian,nd
Pacific ocieties,
he
History f
Cartography
Chicago:
Univ. f
Chicago
ress, 998);Barbara
Mundy,
he
Mapping fNew
Spain: ndigenous
artography
and
theMaps of
heRelaciones
Geogrdficas
Chicago:Univ. f
Chicago ress,
996);Mark
Warhus,
AnotherAmerica:ative merican apsandtheHistoryfOurLand NewYork: t.Martin'sress,1997); G. M. Lewis,ed.,Cartographicncounters:erspectivesn Native
American
Mapmaking
and
Map Use
Chicago:Univ. f
Chicago
Press,
998); Laura
Nader, aked
cience:
Anthropologi-
cal
Inquiry
nto
oundaries,
ower,
nd
KnowledgeNew
York:
Routledge, 996);
andDavid
Turn-
bull, Mapping
ncountersnd
En)Countering
aps:
A Critical
xaminationf
Cartographice-
sistance,"
nowledgend
Society,
998,11:15-44.
42
Such
detailed
omparisonan
be
found, or
nstance,nHelen
Watson
ndDavid
Wade
Cham-
bers
with
he
Yolngu
ommunityt
Yirrkala),
inging
he and,
igning he
and
Geelong: eakin
Univ.
Press, 989).
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13/21
232
DAVID WADE
CHAMBERS
AND RICHARD GILLESPIE
network,
hich
istoricallyas based n
andcontrolledy he
metropolitan
enter.
In other ords, his
s the ystemhatmonitors,
oordinates,
uthorizes,egitimates,
classifies,
nd situatesheoreticallyhe
flow f observational
ndexperimental
n-
formation.erhaps
he est escription
f hese ectorss found
nLatour's
centers
ofcalculation."43ithouthis onnection,scientificocalityannot etaken eri-
ously,
o
matterhe
erfectionf ts ssemblage
rthe uality
fwork
eing one.
But thisnetwork
s more han science
ystem,
ore han ust an information
exchange.
t also enablesmechanismsf
ocial ontrol,ommodity
ransaction,x-
ploitation,
nd appropriation.
or example,
Warwick nderson
uggestshat The
recognition
hat ven hemost ormally
tructured
echnical nowledge
ay e im-
plicated
n colonial ccumulation
nd
acquisitions longoverdue....
inquiry
nto
the extual conomy
fthe aboratory
.. indicatesn expansion
f the
power f
the aboratoryo
representnd, n so
doing, o constitute,egulate
nd
egitimate
colonial social realities.... The appropriationfcolonial bodiesand their nsertion
into
metropolitan
iscourse
s ina sense simulacrumf
he
whole olonial
nter-
prise."44
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
SYSTEMS
In the
final ection f
this
aper,
we would
ike
o follow
slightlyifferentack,
introducingthough
ot
fully rguing)
he
ase that istorians
f
science,
n their
accounts f
particular
ocalities,
hould e
prepared
otake
tock
f
he
nature,
on-
tent,nd roleof ndigenousnowledgeystems.45here rea number freasons
why
his s
important.
rom
tudying
non-Western"
ultures
nd
their
nowledge
of
nature,
e
contribute
oour
understanding,
nd
o
the
onservation,
f
great
ntel-
lectual
raditions
hat re
ens fthousandsf
years
n the
making.
n
doing
hiswe
enhance
ur
understanding
f thehuman
mind,
f human
ulture,
nd most
spe-
cially
f
he
noble-and
sometimes
gnoble-encounter
fhumans
ndnature.
he
twentieth
entury
ntroduced
hefinal
tages
f
a
half-millenniumf
global
multi-
cultural
ngagement,
arked
rincipally
y
onflict
nd
holocaust.46
yhelping re-
serve
he
multiple
arieties
f human
nderstanding
fthe
natural
orld,
e
go
to
theheart fpreservingulturaliversity.ndperhaps e will mprovehe ossibil-
ity fconstructive
ultural
econciliation
n
a
deeply
roubled
orld.
Finally,
rom
practical oint
f
view,
heres
an
ncreasing
ealization
hat
ndig-
43
Latour,
cience
n
Actioncit.
n. 3), pp.
215-57.
44
Warwick
nderson,
Where
very
rospect
leases nd
Only
Man s Vile:
Laboratory
edicine
As Colonial
Discourse,"
riticalnquiry,
992.
45
This s not
o suggest
hat
ll historians
f science
must rop
heir ools
nd startworking
n
indigenous
esearch
rojects,
utwedo
believe
hat he
tudy
f science
n
anygeographic
egion
must
nclude
eference
o ndigenous
nowledge
ystemssometimes
alled
KS). Furthermore,
e
believe hat esponsibleeaching ill nclude eferenceo KS in allgeneralistoursesnhistorynd
social
studies
f science.
ee David
WadeChambers,
Seeing
Worldna Grain f Sand:Science
Teaching
n Multicultural
ontext,"
cience nd Education,
999, :633-44;
idem,
reface
oTurn-
bull,
MapsAre
Territoriescit.
n. 41),
p. v.
See also
the hapter
n ethnoscience
n
Sally
Gregory
Kohlstedt
ndMargaret
W.
Rossiter,
ds.,
Historical
Writing
nAmerican
cience:
Perspectives
nd
Prospects,
siris,
986,
1:209-28.
46
Sadly,
ut
not surprisingly,
odem echnoscience
as been
an active
gent
n the
European
global onquest,
hich as
broughtevastating
onsequences
or ature
nd
for therultures.
his
fact
s not ost
on ndigenous
eoples.
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14/21
LOCALITY
IN THE HISTORY
OF SCIENCE
233
enous
knowledge
as
a
crucial
art
o
play
n the
preservation
f
biodiversity
nd
the
managementf natural
esources. he desire or
nvironmentally
ustainable
development
as
prompted
ttempts
o establish
dialogue
etween cience
nd
indigenous
nowledge,
ombininghe trengthsndperspectivesfboth ystems.47This nterestnbringingisparatenowledgeystems
ogether
n
productive
ollab-
oration
s
also
seen
n
medicinend
public
ealth.48
cholars ave
lso
drawn
pon
indigenous
nowledgeo
counter hat
hey
ee as
the
dangerous
eductionism
nd
culture-bound
ature fWestern
cience,ts
negative
mpact
n
native
eoples,
nd
its
nfluence
n
thewaywe
perceive
he
natural
nvironment.49
ndeed,
omehave
argued or he
ncorporationf
value
ystems
nto
he
ciences.50
Historians
f
science
have
reasonably ood
recordn
relation o
some
of
the
more
bvious raditional
ultures.
or
nstance,
t s
not
uncommonor
major en-
eral
histories-in
ttemptingo
provide
he
ig
picture-to reat
cientific
iviliza-
tions ftheOldWorldChina,ndia,slam) nd heNew Maya,Aztec,nd
nca).51
But f
hese
major
ulturesre
mong
he est
known,
hey
rebyno
means
he nly
interesting
ndigenous
odiesof
knowledge
vailable o
historians.52
t is
essential
that
ocality
tudies f
these
ther
nowledge
raditions
ecome
ncorporatednto
the
rchive f
human
istory.
uch
a
project,
herever
arried
ut,
must
ecognize
the
angers f
exploitationnd
repressionhat
re n
some
measure
nherentn
eth-
nographictudies
onducted
rom he
enter.
orthese
easons,
uch
projects
must
allow
the
voiceof
the
olonized
nd
subjugated
ultureso be
heardn
their
wn
terms.
f
course,
ocal/global
ontentionill
notcease in
this
ndeavor,ut
the
localwillbe strengthenedndthepossibilityfmutualxchangendcontribution
will
be
increased.
The
call
to
recognize
he
ntellectual
tature
nd
ontinuing
alidity
f
ndigenous
modes
f
thought
eflects
growing
nternational
oncern
hat
as come
to
prom-
inence
ver
he ast
twenty
ears.
UNESCO
has
commissioned
number f re-
ports
n
ssues
relating
o
knowledge,
ulture,
nd
development,
ll
of which
ave
opposed past
policies
of
cultural
ssimilation
policies
that
have been
almost
47
Graham
aines
and
Nancy
M.
Williams,
Partnerships
n
Tradition
nd
Science," n
Traditional
EcologicalKnowledge:WisdomorSustainable evelopment,ds. N. M. WilliamsndG. Baines
(Canberra: entre
or
Resource nd
Environmental
tudies,
ustralian
ational
University,
993)
pp.
1-6.
48
Gregory
ajete,A
People's
Ecology:
Explorations
n
Sustainable
ivingSanta
Fe,
N.
Mex.:
Clear
Light
ublishers,
999).
49
Vine
Deloria,Jr.,
ed Earth
White
ies:
Native
Americans
nd the
Myth
f
Scientificact
(Golden,
olo.: Fulcrum
ublishing,
997);
Peter
nudston
nd
David
Suzuki,
Wisdom
f
he
lders
(St.
Leonards, ew
South
Wales:Allen
nd
Unwin,
992).
50
Gregory
ajete,
gnitinghe
parkle:An
ndigenous
cience
Education
Model
Skyand, .C.:
Kivaki
ress,
999);
Gregory
ajete,
Native
cience:
Laws
of
nterdependence
Santa
Fe,N. Mex.:
Clear
Light
ublishers,
000);
Zia
Sardar,
xplorationsn
slamic
cience
London:
Mansell,
989).
'1
or a
recent
ttemptt the
big
picture
hat
ives
good
account f
certain
reasof
ndigenous
knowledge,eeJames . McClellan II andHaroldDom,Science ndTechnologynWorld istory(Baltimore, d.:Johns opkins
ress,
999).
52
Preliminary
ccess to
these
knowledge
ystems
as
been
mproved
y
several
ecent
ublica-
tions:
Helaine
elin,
d.,
Encyclopaedia
f he
History
f
Science,
echnologynd
Medicine
nNon-
Western
ultures
Dordrecht:
luwer,
997);
Douglas
Allchin
nd
Robert
eKosky, n
ntroduction
tothe
History
f
cience n
Non-Western
raditions
Seattle:
History
f
Science
ociety, 999);
Sarah
Franklin,Science s
Culture,
ultures
f
Science,"
nnual
Review
f
Anthropology,
995:163-84;
David
Hess,
Science
nd
Technologyn a
Multicultural
orld:
he
Cultural
olitics
f
Facts
and
Artifacts
New York:
Columbia
Univ.
ress,
995).
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234 DAVID WADE
CHAMBERS AND RICHARD GILLESPIE
universally iewed by indigenous eoples as nothing ess thangenocidal). For ex-
ample, n influential 981 reporttated hat ne major nternationalbjective hould
be the
"rehabilitationf traditionalorms f knowledge nd,above all, of thepoten-
tialitieswhichhavebeen stifled y hepressure fthedominant ountries rgroups."53
And n 1995: "a culturally istinct eople loses its dentitys theuse of ts anguage
and social and political nstitutions,s well as itstraditions,rtforms,eligious rac-
ticesand cultural alues, s restricted.
he challenge oday
..
is to develop setting
that
nsuresthatdevelopments
integrativend inclusive.This means respectfor
value systems, orthe traditional
nowledge hat ndigenouspeople have of their
society nd environment,nd for
heir nstitutionsn whichculture s grounded."54
Importantly,hisunderstandings
seen to apply to technoscientificnowledge n
its relationshipo ndigenous
nowledge ystems. n 1999, n a declaration dopted
by
the
UNESCO-sponsoredWorldConference
n Science
in
Budapest, hisposition
was developed n somedetail, cknowledging
that raditionalnd
ocal
knowledgeystems
s
dynamicxpressions
f
perceiving
nd
understanding
he
world,
an
make
nd
historically
ave
made,
valuable ontribution
to
science
nd
technology,
nd
that heres a needto
preserve,rotect,
esearchnd
promote
his ultural
eritage....
Governmentalnd
non-governmentalrganizations
should ustain raditional
nowledgeystemshrough
ctive
upport
o the ocieties
that
re
keepers
nd
developers
f this
knowledge,
heir
ays
f
ife,
heir
anguages,
their ocial
organization
nd
theenvironments
n which
hey
ive.... Governments
should
upportooperation
etween olders ftraditional
nowledge
nd
cientists
o
explore herelationshipsetween ifferentnowledge ystemsndto fosternter-
linkages
fmutual enefit.55
Thereare
manyproblems
ssociatedwith his nternationalall
to
support
he
tudy
and
preservation
f
ndigenous
nowledge ystemsIKS).
It
might asily degenerate
into
rush
for
profiteeringxploitation
f
botanical
knowledge. urthermore,
ven
if the
KS
project
s
pursued
with he
most
honorable
f
ntentions,
t s
possible
to
view
t
as a lost cause. Some
knowledge ystems
ave
disappeared,
ome
are
known
only
n
fragments,
ome nvolve acred
knowledge
hat annotbe made
public,
nd
mostcan be uncovered nly by earning elevantanguagesandby workingn col-
laborationwithnative cholars,
lders,
nd
practitioners.
he
comparison
fWestern
science
with
ndigenous nowledge ystems
s
fraught
ith ll thedifficultiessso-
ciated
with
understanding
he similarities nd demarcations
etween
markedly
if-
ferent
ultures;
hese
problems
re
compounded y ooking
t
precisely
hat
spect
of Western ulture
hat
s
believed to
provide
n
objective, isinterested,
nd non-
culture-bound
ccount
of the
natural
world.
It s
possible
to conceivehow a culture
an
accept
and
appreciate
nother ulture's
aesthetics-althoughEuropean
nterestn
indigenous
rtwas
a
long
time
coming,
53 UNESCO,
Domination or Sharing?:
Report
on
Indigenous
Development
and the
Transfer
f
KnowledgeUnesco
Publishing,981),
p. 31
54 UNESCO,
Our Creative Diversity:
Reportof the World
Commission
on Culture
and Develop-
ment
UnescoPublishing,
995),pp.
70-1 (italics
n
original);
ee
also D. MichaelWarren,.
Jan
Slikkerveer,
nd
David
Brokensha,
eds.,
The Cultural Dimension
of Development:
Indigenous
Knowledge ystems
London:
ntermediateechnology
ublications,
995).
55
UNESCO,
The Declaration
on
Science and
the Use ofScientific
nowledge:
Reportof
the
World
Conference
n Science
(Unesco Publishing,
1999).
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16/21
LOCALITY
IN THE
HISTORY OF SCIENCE
235
and popular
ppreciation
as
sometimesnvolved he
development
f a
specific
product
or
white
onsumption.
ut he
deathat
ery
ifferentultures
ay
e
able
to reconcile
ome
spects
f
their
nowledge
fthenatural
orld as been
onsid-
ered n mpossiblerojectn some uarters.fterll,
he ld
paradigmrgued,hereis only neobjectiveeality,ndonly cience asdeveloped reliablemethod or
describingndexplaining
hat
eality.
he
history
f
science,
n such
view,
s
the
history
f
pushing
ack he
rontiersf
uperstition
nd
gnorance,
ith
eligion
nd
belief
etreating
n
the
aceof
superior
cientific
xplanation.56
Science,
ike
ny
ther ocial
ctivity,
ears he
mprint
f
the
ociety
fwhicht
is part. ll knowledge
ystems
re
situated"
n
power
elationships,
alue
ssump-
tions,
nd
historical
rameworks.57s
a
culturallypecific
nowledgeystem-al-
beit newith
normousowernd ne hat emains source fboth
ood
nd vil-
Western
cience,
n our ntellectual
alculations,
annot e
accorded
privileged
status ver ndigenousnowledge.arfrom eing n abstractntellectualebate,
this ssue
goes
totheheart fhow
differentulturesiew
neanother
nd
heir
ays
of
seeing
he
world.58
urthermore,ndigenous
nowledgeystems
emand espect
as
powerfululturalxpressionsf
ways fknowing
ature-ways
hat ave lear
implicationsor
how
humans hould ive
and prospern
particular
nvironments.
The
reassessmentfthe
haracter
f
KS in
ight
f
hese indingss
onlyust tart-
ing, nd
thehistoryf sciencehas an
importantole
to play n this.By consider-
ing both
Western
cience nd indigenous
nowledge ystems s
forms f local
knowledgendpractice,he
ocality pproach pens
up a spacefor
more quitable
comparison.
BRINGING
DISPARATE KNOWLEDGE
SYSTEMS TOGETHER
In
the astfew
pages,we
offern account f
taxonomyntendedo llustrate
ome
of the
hings
hat an
be learnedwhen
disparate
nowledgeystemsre
brought
together.
cience
typically
s
the
dominant nowledgeystem
ecause tresides
within
nternational
etworks
ery ifferent
rom
hose f politically
arginalized
indigenous
ommunity.or xample, n
elaborateystemf
commissions,ublica-
tions,nd nstitutionsiesbehindontemporaryotanicalnd oological lassifica-
tion
nd
nomenclature;
t s
inconceivablehat n
ndigenousaxonomy-no
matter
how
nternallyohesive,
ow
comprehensivenddifferentiated,r
evenhow imi-
larly peciated-could
ontinueo
existwithin hat
ystem.59n ethnoscientist
s
56
Mera
Nanda,
The
Epistemic
harity
fthe
Constructivistritics f
Science
nd
Why
he hird
World
hould
Refuse he
Offer,"
n
A
HouseBuilt n
Sand:
Exposing
ost-Modernist
yths
bout
Science,
d.
Noretta
oertge New York:
OxfordUniv.
Press,
1998).
Nanda
makes he
case that
science s
the last
tand"
gainst
eligious
igotry
nd
superstition.
57
John
aw,
ed.,Power,
ction
nd
Belief:
A
New
Sociology f
Knowledge?
London:
Routledge
andKeganPaul,1986); dem, Sociology fMonsters:ssaysonPower, echnologynd Domina-
tion
SociologicalReview
Monograph,991);
Sandra
Harding,d.,The
Racial
Economy f
cience:
Toward
Democratic uture
Bloomington,
nd.:
ndianaUniv.
Press,
1993);
Helen
Longino,
ci-
ence
as
Social
Knowledge:Values
nd
Objectivity
n
Scientificnquiry
Princeton,
.J.:
Princeton
Univ.
Press,
990).
58
Ivan
Karp
ndSteven .
Lavine, ds.,
Exhibiting
ultures
Washington,.C.:
Smithsonian
nsti-
tution
ress,
991).
59
rent
erlin,
thnobiological
lassification:
rinciples f
Categorizationf
Plants
ndAnimals
in
Traditional
ocieties
Princeton,
.J.:
rincetonniv.
ress, 992);
Ralph
N. H.
Bulmer,
Why s
the
Cassowary ot
Bird?A
Problem
f
Zoological
axonomy
mong
heKaram
f he
New
Guinea
This content downloaded from 142.103.183.194 on Tue, 14 Oct 2014 18:17:58 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp7/25/2019 ChambeLocality in the History of Science: Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous Knowledge Author(s):
17/21
236
DAVID
WADE CHAMBERS AND
RICHARD GILLESPIE
likely o
focuson howindigenous
axonomies iffer rom
cientific axonomy.
nd
thehistory
f taxonomy as much
of interesto say on
this ssue. For example,
t
may
be usefulfirst o considerhowscientific
axonomy merged
rom arlier uro-
peanfolk axonomies. ike indigenous
axonomies,hose
recorded yAristotle nd
in
early
herbalsof the
fifteenthnd sixteenth
enturies isted round ight
hundred
taxa at the evel of
genus or species. Indeed,
at the ocal
level therewas often
no
differenceetweengenus
and species,because
mostgenera
were monospecificn
a
given
nvironment,ndwhere wo
or more species occurred,
heywere
oftenmor-
phologically
ifferentecause they
werepursuing ifferent
cological
strategies.
Several
technological
hanges
ransformedolk axonomy.
he printing
ress nd
woodcutpermitted
he
printing
f books that
ompared axafrom ifferent
egions
and across time.Voyages
of
discovery rought ack
large numbers
f new speci-
mens,
which
were stored n
herbaria,
otanical
gardens,
nd museums.Naturalists
beganto specializeinplantsor animals, ndthennmorerestrictedroups uchas
birds, ishes,
r nsects.These huge ncreases
n
thenumber
f recorded axa,which
were argely heresult
f technological
hangerather han
ntellectual
reakthrough,
posed practical
roblems
forderingnd management
hathad to be resolved.
Lin-
naeusbeganto
introduce he
higher
ategories
f
class and
order above
genus and
species).
In the ate
eighteenth
nd
early
nineteenthenturies,
s the
genus
ost
ts
place
as
the chieftaxonomic ank,
cientific axonomymoved
farther
rom
olk
taxonomy.
Scientistsncreasingly
sed
biological
functions
nd anatomical tructures
o define
speciesinfamilies nd otherhigher-orderaxa. Meanwhile,generawere split gain
and again
under
he
weight
fnewly
disco
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