The Invention of Humboldt : On the Geopolitics of Knowledge

The Invention of Humboldt is a game-changing volume of essays by leading scholars of the Hispanic world that explodes many myths about Alexander von Humboldt and his world. Rather than ‘follow in Humboldt’s footsteps,’ this book outlines the new critical horizon of post-Humboldtian Humboldt studies: the archaeology of all that lies buried under the Baron’s epistemological footprint. Contrary to the popular image of Humboldt as a solitary ‘adventurer’ and ‘hero of science’ surrounded by New World nature, The Invention of Humboldt demonstrates that the Baron’s opus and practice was largely derivative of the knowledge communities and archives of the Hispanic world. Although Humboldtian writing has invented a powerful cult that has served to erase the sources of his knowledge and practice, in truth Humboldt did not ‘invent nature,’ nor did he pioneer global science: he was the beneficiary of Iberian natural science and globalization. Nor was Humboldt a pioneering, ‘postcolonial’ cultural relativist. Instead, his anthropological views of the Americas were Orientalist and historicist and, in most ways, were less enlightened than those of his Creole contemporaries. This book will reshape the landscape of Humboldt scholarship. It is essential reading for all those interested in Alexander von Humboldt, the Hispanic American enlightenment, and the global history of science and knowledge. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Series Editors’ Introduction Notes on Contributors Introduction: Under Humboldt’s Footsteps Chapter Synopses Notes Chapter 1: The Apotheosis of Humboldt during the Nineteenth Century Building a Transatlantic Scientific Network A Sage for All Tastes Notes Chapter 2: A Sense of Place: Early Modern Roots of Humboldt’s Natural History Practices Plants and Rocks Fieldwork and a Sense of Place Early Modern Fieldwork Sites of Knowledge Humboldt’s Personal Links with the Early Modern Scientific Tradition Humboldt’s Style of Doing Science Notes Chapter 3: Six Days on Tenerife: The Making of Humboldt’s Tropical Antique The Pico del Teide and the Dragon Tree Alexander von Humboldt: Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Artist The Shaping of Humboldt’s Aesthetic Sensibility The Tropical Antique Invention and Publication Notes Chapter 4: Caldas and Humboldt in the Andes: Who Invented Biogeography? Imbabura: A Formal Scenario for Caldas’s Biogeography Chimborazo: A Formal Scenario for Humboldt’s Andean Biogeography Synchronicities and Asymmetries Conclusions Notes Chapter 5: An Archaeology of Mutis’s Disappearing Gift to Humboldt The Unlikely Encounter The Exchanges Mutis and His Flora de Bogotá in the Works of Humboldt and Bonpland Because Words Always Contain Truths Final Considerations and New Challenges Notes Chapter 6: Incas, Pyramids, and Amazons: Notes on Humboldt’s Equatorial Encounters Notes Chapter 7: Humboldt’s Magic Mountain The Fame of the Mountains Sublime Images A Magical Place Notes Chapter 8: Peruvian Desencuentro : Humboldt’s Fog, Unanue’s Light The ‘Second Columbus’ Belatedly Discovers America Humboldt’s Dark and Melancholy Peru Unanue’s Brilliant and Ingenious Peru Humboldt’s Face Burying the Baron’s Footprints Notes Chapter 9: Air in a Flask: The Mexican Making of Humboldt’s Objects of Knowledge Erythronium: The (Un)making of a Metal Cochineal: ‘The dye which exists as long as Indians tend to it’ Xochicalco: Fragments for a Universal History of Civilisation Concluding Reflections Notes Chapter 10: Humboldt’s Misreading of the Mercantilist Face of New Spain Harmony of Interests and Government Intervention Society, Demography, and Economy in Broad Perspective The Economic Valuation of Goods Conclusion Notes Chapter 11: Bonpland’s Cactus, Or Trafficking in Exotics and Ignorance The Cactaceae in Europe Inventing the Cactus Josephine’s Heated Gardens and a Rose-Flowered Fig of the Indies The Voyage and the Cacti Notes Chapter 12: Humboldt’s Columbus, Or the Iberian Worlds that Humboldt Ignored On Things Forgotten. Global Physics and the Two ‘Planets’ of the Hispanic Monarchy Archives and Knowledge or Ignorance of the New World In the Footsteps of Humboldtian Ignorance Notes Index "The Invention of Humboldt is a game-changing volume of essays by leading scholars of the Hispanic world that explodes many myths about Alexander von Humboldt and his world. Rather than 'follow in Humboldt's footsteps' this book outlines the new critical horizon of 'post-Humboldtian' Studies: the archaeology of all that lies buried under the Baron's epistemological footprint. Contrary to the popular image of Humboldt as a solitary 'adventurer' and 'hero of science' surrounded by New World nature, The Invention of Humboldt demonstrates that the Baron's opus and practice was largely derivative of the knowledge communities and archives of the Hispanic world. Although Humboldtian writing has invented a powerful cult that has served to erase the sources of his knowledge and practice, in truth Humboldt did not 'invent nature' nor did he pioneer global science: he was the beneficiary of Iberian natural science and globalization. Nor was Humboldt a pioneering, 'postcolonial' cultural relativist. Instead, his anthropological views of the Americas were Orientalist and historicist, and in most ways were less enlightened than those of his Creole contemporaries. This book will reshape the landscape of Humboldt scholarship. It is essential reading for all those interested in Alexander von Humboldt, the Hispanic American enlightenment, and the global history of science and knowledge"-- Provided by publisher The Apotheosis of Humboldt during the Nineteenth Century / Leoncio López-Ocón -- A Sense of Place: Early Modern Roots of Humboldt's Natural History Practices / Florike Egmond -- Six Days on Tenerife: The Making of Humboldt's Tropical Antique / Peter Mason -- Caldas and Humboldt in the Andes: Who Invented Biogeography? / Alberto Gómez Gutiérrez -- An Archaeology of Mutis' Disappearing Gift to Humboldt / José Antonio Amaya -- Incas, Pyramids and Amazons: Notes on Humboldt's Equatorial Encounters / Neil Safier -- Humboldt's Magic Mountain / Juan Pimentel -- Peruvian Desencuentro: Humboldt's Fog, Unanue's Light / Mark Thurner -- Air in a Flask: The Mexican Making of Humboldt's Objects of Knowledge / Miruna Achim and Gabriela Goldin Marcovich -- Humboldt's Misreading of the Mercantilist Face of New Spain / José Enrique Covarrubias -- Bonpland's Cactus, Or Trafficking in Exotics and Ignorance / Irina Podgorny -- Humboldt's Columbus, Or the Iberian Worlds that Humboldt Ignored / Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra