Forsker ser nærmere på Livingstone i Afrika

Time: Thursday 7th October at 13.15 to 15.00 hours

Venue: Centre of African studies (Center for Afrikastudier), Københavns Universitet, Købmagergade 46, 4., Auditorium 12, Kbn K

Organizer: CAS

Time: Thursday 7th October at 13.15 to 15.00 hours

Venue: Centre of African studies (Center for Afrikastudier), Københavns Universitet, Købmagergade 46, 4., Auditorium 12, Kbn K

Organizer: CAS

In the exploration of Africa by Europeans in the nineteenth century, the natural world was observed, described, collected, transported and assimilated into European bodies of knowledge. Scholars have noted the “colonial” nature of these appropriations and the erasure of the African voice within them.

This paper uses the products of one expedition, David Livingstone’s Zambesi Expedition (1858-64) to examine these processes in detail and to link the methods and practices of science located in the African field to those located in the European metropolis, and then to examine the epistemic spaces between them.

The products of the Expedition include the paintings of Thomas Baines, the first photographs ever taken in central Africa, natural history specimens and published articles.

By looking at such materials I will argue that while the African contributions to these very European bodies of knowledge are often obscure, the reasons for this obscurity may not be what we expect.

Lawrence Dritsas has studied both in the United States and Britain and has interdisciplinary training in the natural and social sciences. He taught secondary school with the US Peace Corps in Malawi in the late 1990s.

In 2005 he completed his PhD at the Centre of African Studies in Edinburgh with a study of the scientific exploration of Africa in the mid-nineteenth century. He is a Lecturer at Edinburgh University and is programme director for the MSc in Science, Technology and International Development.

His research is generally into the history and sociology of science in Africa and includes more specific focus on such areas as the history of scientific expeditions and the links between science, technology and development practices.

A wider intellectual project is aimed at uncovering the continuities and discontinuities between colonial and postcolonial scientific research in Africa