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SUMMARY:'Environment and Empire... in the museum': Cambridge and the platy
 pus - Charlotte Connelly (The Polar Museum)\, Jack Ashby (University Museu
 m of Zoology)
DTSTART:20211025T120000Z
DTEND:20211025T130000Z
UID:TALK163207@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Olin Moctezuma
DESCRIPTION:This talk comes in two parts\, first an introduction to a new 
 network that explore the legacies of empire and enslavement in natural his
 tory museums\, and the ways those legacies are still influencing environme
 ntal science today. This will be followed by an example of the research in
  this area.\n\nThe Environment and Empire project was designed to address 
 a particular challenge that natural history museums face. Unlike many othe
 r types of museums\, natural history collections are curated and cared for
  by people who have typically been trained as scientists\, rather than his
 torians. While many natural history museum staff are interested in the his
 tories and legacies of their collections\, they do not necessarily have th
 e time or skills to interrogate them alongside their day-to-day work. This
  project sought to bring together museum professionals working with natura
 l history collections and interested historians to discuss some of the col
 onial legacies embodied in those collections\, and the ways they continue 
 to affect natural science today.\n\nAcross former European empires\, colle
 cting became part of the act of colonisation\, with implications for how\,
  why\, where and by whom science was done. Jack Ashby will explore this th
 eme by focussing on Australian mammal collections in the University Museum
  of Zoology\, Cambridge. Cracking the question of how platypuses and echid
 nas reproduce became a decades-long mystery for nineteenth century natural
 ists\, even though Indigenous experts told Europeans that they lay eggs so
 on after the British invaded. The matter was settled to the satisfaction o
 f the European scientific establishment only when a Cambridge academic saw
  the evidence for his own eyes\, and that would not have been possible wit
 hout the efforts of over 150 Aboriginal collectors.
LOCATION:Zoom and Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of
  Science
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