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SUMMARY:'The motion of the blood is in fact a sort of living barometer': a
 ltitude sickness\, poisonous plants and instrumentalised bodies in the Him
 alaya\, 1800–1850 - Lachlan Fleetwood (Faculty of History)
DTSTART:20171016T120000Z
DTEND:20171016T130000Z
UID:TALK85101@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Sebestian Kroupa
DESCRIPTION:Motivated by both science and empire\, European explorers incr
 easingly ventured into the high Himalaya after 1800\, where they encounter
 ed the insidious yet little understood effects of altitude sickness. They 
 did not\, however\, do so alone. Tensions arising from the highly unpredic
 table distribution of symptoms were exacerbated by the way explorers were 
 dependent on pre-existing networks of expertise and labour\, which forced 
 them to measure their minds and bodies against those of their Asian guides
  and porters. In this talk\, I examine altitude physiology in the early ni
 neteenth century\, largely overlooked by scholars in favour of the systema
 tic and often institutionally-sponsored scientific studies of the later pe
 riod. I consider the way travellers presented their bodily debility in rel
 ation to their guides in published accounts\, their examination of the ind
 igenous explanation for altitude sickness (resulting from the _Bis_ or poi
 sonous miasmas from plants)\, and their experimental approaches around qua
 ntification and the instrumentalisation of bodies. I use these to examine 
 expedition sociability and agency\, and bring into focus the practical\, e
 veryday aspects of intermediary relationships. Throughout\, I situate this
  story within the context of the constitution of the Himalaya as the north
 ern borderlands of British India. I also show that grappling with the prob
 lem of altitude was an intrinsically comparative process for the European 
 actors\, drawing on perceived and actual differences with the Alps and the
  Andes\, and argue that this allows us to examine the formulation of what 
 was an inherently global science.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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