An Eighteenth-Century Ecology of Knowledge: Patronage and Natural History
This article analyses the construction and dissemination of natural-history knowledge in the eighteenth century. It takes the mapping and narration of Orkney as a case study, focusing on the local minister and amateur natural-historian George Low and his network of patron-client relationships with s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Linköping University Electronic Press
2014-12-01
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| Series: | Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research |
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| Online Access: | https://journal.ep.liu.se/test3212/index.php/CU/article/view/2140 |
| _version_ | 1798022773849718784 |
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| author | Linda Andersson Burnett |
| author_facet | Linda Andersson Burnett |
| author_sort | Linda Andersson Burnett |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article analyses the construction and dissemination of natural-history knowledge in the eighteenth century. It takes the mapping and narration of Orkney as a case study, focusing on the local minister and amateur natural-historian George Low and his network of patron-client relationships with such prominent natural historians as Joseph Banks and Thomas Pennant. It focuses too on Low‘s network of informants and assistants among local island farmers, and argues that canonical natural-history texts were the products of collaborative and interdependent processes that included a large number of actors from all strata of society. To conceptualise how natural-history knowledge was created in this period, the article applies the metaphoric description ‘an ecology of knowledge’. This approach enables a focus on a large number of actors, their collaboration and influence on each other, while also paying attention to asymmetrical power relationships in which competition and appropriation took place. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T17:35:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-58ec7ddd19124424b4d1aba5c2087879 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2000-1525 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T17:35:29Z |
| publishDate | 2014-12-01 |
| publisher | Linköping University Electronic Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-58ec7ddd19124424b4d1aba5c20878792022-12-22T04:11:38ZengLinköping University Electronic PressCulture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research2000-15252014-12-0167An Eighteenth-Century Ecology of Knowledge: Patronage and Natural HistoryLinda Andersson Burnett0Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, Linnaeus University, SwedenThis article analyses the construction and dissemination of natural-history knowledge in the eighteenth century. It takes the mapping and narration of Orkney as a case study, focusing on the local minister and amateur natural-historian George Low and his network of patron-client relationships with such prominent natural historians as Joseph Banks and Thomas Pennant. It focuses too on Low‘s network of informants and assistants among local island farmers, and argues that canonical natural-history texts were the products of collaborative and interdependent processes that included a large number of actors from all strata of society. To conceptualise how natural-history knowledge was created in this period, the article applies the metaphoric description ‘an ecology of knowledge’. This approach enables a focus on a large number of actors, their collaboration and influence on each other, while also paying attention to asymmetrical power relationships in which competition and appropriation took place.https://journal.ep.liu.se/test3212/index.php/CU/article/view/2140Ecology of KnowledgePatronageNatural HistoryScotlandGeorge LowConcurrent Narratives |
| spellingShingle | Linda Andersson Burnett An Eighteenth-Century Ecology of Knowledge: Patronage and Natural History Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research Ecology of Knowledge Patronage Natural History Scotland George Low Concurrent Narratives |
| title | An Eighteenth-Century Ecology of Knowledge: Patronage and Natural History |
| title_full | An Eighteenth-Century Ecology of Knowledge: Patronage and Natural History |
| title_fullStr | An Eighteenth-Century Ecology of Knowledge: Patronage and Natural History |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Eighteenth-Century Ecology of Knowledge: Patronage and Natural History |
| title_short | An Eighteenth-Century Ecology of Knowledge: Patronage and Natural History |
| title_sort | eighteenth century ecology of knowledge patronage and natural history |
| topic | Ecology of Knowledge Patronage Natural History Scotland George Low Concurrent Narratives |
| url | https://journal.ep.liu.se/test3212/index.php/CU/article/view/2140 |
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