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Plant capitalism and company science: the Indian career of Nathaniel Wallich

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Arnold, David (2008) Plant capitalism and company science: the Indian career of Nathaniel Wallich. Modern Asian Studies, Vol.42 (No.5). pp. 899-928. doi:10.1017/S0026749X0700296X ISSN 0026-749X.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X0700296X

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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
Official Date: September 2008
Dates:
DateEvent
September 2008Published
Volume: Vol.42
Number: No.5
Page Range: pp. 899-928
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X0700296X
Status: Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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