Report end of term II (March) 2013
I last reported on my work in December 2012. In 2013 I will be working 80% on the Warwick project
and 20% on the Swedish project.
Teaching:
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Term 2 is when I do most of my teaching. I am giving 6 lectures and 4 seminar for the World
of Consumption. I reorganised the seminars this year but otherwise I have recycled the
lectures from last year so not much work preparing for this.
I gave my lecture for the Enlightenment course, and I am also giving one lecture for the
Galleons and Caravan course in the beginning of term 3 (which needs to be rewritten to
match changes to the curriculum)
The PCAPP course; I have taken part in one workshop and signed up for another seven up
until the end of this academic year.
Research Presentations (conferences, workshops, seminars)
Since last report
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11-13 Jan 2013: The European market for teas and the Swedish East India Company, c. 17301760 Hanna Hodacs & Leos Müller, Goods from the East Conference, Venice,
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22 Feb 2013, RCA London: “Eight Shades of Blue – 18th Century Chinese Silk on the European
market”, Colour Symposium at the RCA (invitation)
Forthcoming
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15-16 of April 2013, Workshop on Collection building early modern and 19th century,
Copenhagen (invited by Brita Brenna)
3-5 of May, 2014, Political economy and Company Conference in Yale
22-28 July 2013,"Understanding tea from China in 18th century Europe", Panel with
Alexandra Cook, Hong Kong, Betina Dietz, Hong Kong, & Hjalmar Fors, Uppsala, ‘Putting
Chinese natural knowledge to work in the long eighteenth century’, 24th International
Congress History of Science, Technology and Medicine.
o Abstract: What can tea tell us about how knowledge of the natural world moved
between China and Europe in the 18th century? Two contradictory stories seem to
exist. One is about naturalists failing to orchestrate planned transfers of the tea
bush. This species was only successfully re-located in the early 19th century (and
initially only within Asia), in spite of multiple attempts to bring seeds and seedlings
to Europe and the Atlantic world. Meanwhile, however, there is another story about
the exponential growth in knowledge about different varieties and qualities of tea as
a consumer good in Europe, in response to the growing imports of Chinese tea by
the European East India Companies. In my paper I will analyse the overlapping
stories of how knowledge about the tea plants, its cultivation and the different
qualities of the finished product moved between Asia and Europe in the 18th
century.
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5-7 Sept 2013: “Knowledge Generation, Education and Careers – the Role of Travelling in
Linnaean Natural History”, Symposium, "Travel, Agency, and the Circulation of Knowledge",
Rostock (invited by Gesa Mackenthun)
o Abstract: Carolus Linnaeus’ (1707-1778) taxonomic work was central to the
modernisation of natural history in the eighteenth century. His most significant
claim to fame was the invention of the binominal nomenclature. Launched
internationally in 1753 with the publication of Species Plantarum, Linnaeus’ global
flora, it soon became a standard way for naming species. Following the growing
dominance of Europe globally Linnaean taxonomy became a tool for travellers
exploring and writing about the none European world. We are familiar with many
aspects of this history. Told like above, underlining the growing power of Europe as
the backdrop for understanding how Linnaean taxonomy became a standard, many
of the original intentions and thoughts regarding the role of travelling and
knowledge generation is lost. In this paper I will point at some of these, focusing
particularly on the role of local informants and local knowledge within a Swedish
context, and travelling as a form of education, creating embodied forms of
knowledge, with which help junior naturalists could be promoted. I will also argue
that a focus on locally generated knowledge, education, and promotion will help us
understand the application of Linnaean taxonomy globally, in the late eighteenth
century and onwards. The paper is based on a reading of Linnaeus’ own travel
writing, and as well as on some of his texts on travelling and education. I will also
draw on a selection travel accounts produced by Linnaeus’ students.
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Spring 2014: Learning collection building, at Re:production of knowledge, Symposium: Dept.
for History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University (moved forward)
Spring 2014: Second workshop on Global Linnaean Science, Florence (in the process of
organizing this event together with Stéphane Van Damme and Kenneth Nyberg)
May 2014: Workshop on Scandinavian East India Companies, Gothenburg
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Archive visits past
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10-15 of February Visit to Uppsala University Library to look at material relating to colour
and silk.
Archive visits forthcoming
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17-18 of April 2014, Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen
One more visit to Copenhagen in the late spring, early summer of 2013
Current work
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In the process of writing sample chapter to go with book proposal for Tea and Silk in the
North
In the process of writing short papers for Yale conference
In the process of writing book proposal for edited volume, A global History of Linnaean
science
In the process of writing part of the book proposal for Goods from the East
In the process of organising second workshop on Linnaean global history
In the process of organising workshop on Scandinavian East India trade
Agreed to be external examiner for PhD thesis in Sweden (5 of June)
Forgot to mentioned this in my last report December 2012:
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Wrote book reviews for Historisk TIdskrift and Lychnos
Refereed articles for Journal of Global History and Yearbook for Nordic Eighteenth Century
Studies