Empire, Colonialism, and the Human Sciences

Troubling Encounters in the Americas and Pacific

Adam Warren, Julia E. Rodriguez, Stephen T. Casper

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2024
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• eBook ISBN:
  9781009398176
• Subtopic: Technology & Engineering Research & Skills
• Index: Technology & Engineering

In this bold reconsideration of the human sciences, an interdisciplinary team employ an expanded theoretical and geographical critical lens centering the notion of the encounter. Drawing insights from Indigenous and Latin American Studies, nine case studies delve into the dynamics of encounters between researchers, intermediaries, and research subjects in imperial and colonial contexts across the Americas and Pacific. Essays explore ethical considerations and knowledge production practices that prevailed in field and expedition science, custodial institutions, and governance debates. They reevaluate how individuals and communities subjected to research projects embraced, critiqued, or subverted them. Often, research subjects expressed their own aspirations, asserted sovereignty or autonomy, and exercised forms of power through interactions or acts of refusal. This book signals the transformative potential of Indigenous Studies and Latin American Studies for shaping future scholarship on the history of the human sciences. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Imprints page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• A Note about the Cover image
• 1 Introduction
• Part I Relationality in Field and Expedition Science
• Part II Institutional Encounters, Discipline, and Settler Colonial Logics
• Part III Governance, Politics, and Self-Determination
• Part IV Conclusions and Epilogues
• Select Bibliography
• Index