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SUMMARY:Mountains\, rivers and forests: the colonial mapping of southeast 
 Asia\, between observation and vernacular cartography in the 19th century 
 - Marie de Rugy (Faculty of History)
DTSTART:20181112T130000Z
DTEND:20181112T140000Z
UID:TALK110350@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Laura Brassington
DESCRIPTION:During British colonisation of Burma and French rule in Indoch
 ina\, surveyors were sent throughout the territory to explore\, measure\, 
 observe and describe it and to draw topographical maps. On the one hand\, 
 they used their own techniques and proved to be scientific actors\, charti
 ng the territory on maps according to European norms. On the other hand\, 
 they collected indigenous information to help them understand an unknown t
 erritory and given that they were not always able to make proper observati
 ons themselves.\n\nIn this paper\, I will concentrate on the representatio
 n of natural elements\, such as mountains\, rivers and vegetation to show 
 how fundamental they have been in the mapping of territory\, but also how 
 diversely they have been depicted by different actors. European officers\,
  Indian surveyors\, Burmese foresters\, Shan traders and Vietnamese admini
 strators all have particular ways of drawing a map and describing a landsc
 ape. By analysing topographical and indigenous maps\, I will try to unders
 tand these different perceptions of a territory through its constitutive e
 lements and question the integration of vernacular knowledge in European m
 apping.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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