Subject Matter - Technology, the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676 (Paperback, New Ed)

With this sweeping reinterpretation of early cultural encounters between the English and American natives, Joyce E. Chaplin thoroughly alters our historical view of the origins of English presumptions of racial superiority, and of the role science and technology played in shaping these notions. By placing the history of science and medicine at the very center of the story of early English colonization, Chaplin shows how contemporary European theories of nature and science dramatically influenced relations between the English and Indians within the formation of the British Empire.

In Chaplin's account of the earliest contacts, we find the English--impressed by the Indians' way with food, tools, and iron--inclined to consider Indians as partners in the conquest and control of nature. Only when it came to the Indians' bodies, so susceptible to disease, were the English confident in their superiority. Chaplin traces the way in which this tentative notion of racial inferiority hardened and expanded to include the Indians' once admirable mental and technical capacities. Here we see how the English, beginning from a sense of bodily superiority, moved little by little toward the idea of their mastery over nature, America, and the Indians--and how this progression is inextricably linked to the impetus and rationale for empire.

General

Imprint:	Harvard University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	February 2003
First published:	February 2003
Authors:	Joyce E. Chaplin
Dimensions:	227 x 146 x 23mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	428
Edition:	New Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-674-01122-9
Categories:	Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > History of ideas, intellectual history Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1500 to 1750 Books > Humanities > History > European history > General Books > Humanities > History > American history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Equal opportunities Books > History > American history > General Books > History > European history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > History > World history > 1500 to 1750 Promotions
LSN:	0-674-01122-8
Barcode:	9780674011229

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