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Plant capitalism and company science: the Indian career of Nathaniel Wallich
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Arnold, David, 1946-. (2008) Plant capitalism and company science: the Indian career of Nathaniel Wallich. Modern Asian Studies, Vol.42 (No.5). pp. 899-928. ISSN 0026-749X
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X0700296X
Abstract
The career of the Danish-born botanist Nathaniel Wallich, superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden from 1815 to 1846, illustrates the complex nature of botanical science under the East India Company and shows how the plant life of South Asia was used as a capital resource both in the service of the Company's economic interests and for Wallich's own professional advancement and international reputation. Rather than seeing him as a pioneer of modern forest conservation or an innovative botanist, Wallich's attachment to the ideology of ‘improvement’ and the Company's material needs better explain his longevity as superintendent of the Calcutta garden. Although aspects of Wallich's career and botanical works show the importance of circulation between Europe and India, more significant was the hierarchy of knowledge in which indigenous plant lore and illustrative skill were subordinated to Western science and in which colonial science frequently lagged behind that of the metropolis.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | Q Science > QK Botany D History General and Old World > DS Asia |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Wallich, N. (Nathaniel), 1786-1854, Botanic Garden (Calcutta, India), East India Company, Botanists -- Denmark -- Biography, Forest conservation -- India, Botany, Economic -- India, India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Modern Asian Studies |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| ISSN: | 0026-749X |
| Date: | September 2008 |
| Volume: | Vol.42 |
| Number: | No.5 |
| Page Range: | pp. 899-928 |
| Identification Number: | 10.1017/S0026749X0700296X |
| Status: | Peer Reviewed |
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access |
| URI: | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/858 |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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