ChambeLocality in the History of Science: Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous Knowledge Author(s): David Wade Chambers and Richard Gillespie

7/25/2019 ChambeLocality in the History of Science: Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous Knowledge Author(s):

1/21

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.

Accessed: 14/10/2014 18:17

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The University of Chicago Pressand The History of Science Societyare collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,

preserve and extend access to Osiris.

http://www.jstor.org

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/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpresshttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hsshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/301950?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://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.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/301950?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hsshttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress


2/21

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

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.jsp


3/21

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).



4/21

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.



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.



6/21

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.



7/21

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).



8/21

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.



9/21

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.



10/21

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.



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.



12/21

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).



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.



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).



15/21

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).



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



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

Documents

ChambeLocality in the History of Science: Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous Knowledge Author(s): David Wade Chambers and Richard Gillespie