Overview
- Explores the intertwined relationship between science, gender and settler colonialism in the nineteenth century
- Reconstructs the neglected history of Mary Elizabeth Barber’s scientific work in South Africa, shining light on the work of an important woman naturalist
- Contributes to growing research on the involvement of the South in global knowledge networks and the role of knowledge production in colonial dispossession
Part of the book series: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies (CIPCSS)
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Table of contents (11 chapters)
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Front Matter
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African Experts and Science in the Cape
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Front Matter
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From Providing Data to Forging New Practices and Theories
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Front Matter
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Negotiating Belonging Through Science
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book explores the life and work of Mary Elizabeth Barber, a British-born settler scientist who lived in the Cape during the nineteenth century. It provides a lens into a range of subjects within the history of knowledge and science, gender and social history, postcolonial, critical heritage and archival studies. The book examines the international importance of the life and works of a marginalized scientist, the instrumentalisation of science to settlers' political concerns and reveals the pivotal but largely silenced contribution of indigenous African experts. Including a variety of material, visual and textual sources, this study explores how these artefacts are archived and displayed in museums and critically analyses their content and silences. The book traces Barber’s legacy across three continents in collections and archives, offering insights into the politics of memory and history-making. At the same time, it forges a nuanced argument, incorporating study of the North and South, the history of science and social history, and the past and the present.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Shaping Natural History and Settler Society
Book Subtitle: Mary Elizabeth Barber and the Nineteenth-Century Cape
Authors: Tanja Hammel
Series Title: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22639-8
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-22638-1Published: 24 August 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-22641-1Published: 25 August 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-22639-8Published: 23 August 2019
Series ISSN: 2635-1633
Series E-ISSN: 2635-1641
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXIV, 360
Number of Illustrations: 18 b/w illustrations
Topics: History of Science, Imperialism and Colonialism, History of Sub-Saharan Africa, Gender and Sexuality