About the Lecture
European knowledge, especially medicine, is usually presented as being "scientific" as opposed to the "empirical", non-theorised, indigenous practices of non-European people. It is thus a commonplace amongst historians to consider that the former displaced the latter, if not into total oblivion, at least into marginality during the course of European expansion and colonisation.
This talk will present preliminary research on an anonymous 18th century illustrated herbal and pharmacopeia in Portuguese from Anjengo (Anchuthengu), an English factory on the Malabar coast, which allows us to revisit this widely-held assumption. Focusing on the interaction between European and "local" medical knowledge and practices, as well as on the languages through which they circulated and interacted with each other, it will also shed new light on day-to-day commercial, administrative and diplomatic practices of the English and other European trading companies on the west coast of the Subcontinent during this period.
About the Speaker
Kapil Raj is a research professor in the history of science at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and visiting professor at Krea University.
His
research focuses on the processes of knowledge construction through intercultural encounters between South Asia and Europe between the 17th and 21st centuries in the sciences of the open air: natural history, collecting, terrestrial surveying, mapping and linguistics.
We invite all aspiring historians to join us in this engaging and informative webinar.
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Passcode : 123456
We look forward to your participation!
Team Krea
