Plants and Empire

Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World

Londa Schiebinger

  • 2004 Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize, Sponsored by the French Colonial Historical Society
  • 2005 Prize in Atlantic History, American Historical Association

Acknowledgments

Introduction

"The Base for All Economics"

Plan of the Book

1. Voyaging Out

Botanistes Voyageurs

Maria Sibylla Merian

Biopirates

Who Owns Nature?

Voyaging Botanical Assistants

Creole Naturalists and Long-Term Residents

Armchair Botanists

The Search for the Amazons

Heroic Narratives

2. Bioprospecting

Drug Prospecting in the West Indies

Biocontact Zones

Secrets and Monopolies

Drug Prospecting at Home

Brokers of International Knowledge

3. Exotic Abortifacients

Merian's Peacock Flower

Abortion in Europe

Abortion in the West Indies: The Colonial Sexual Economy

Abortion and the Slave Trade

4. The Fate of the Peacock Flower in Europe

Animal Testing

Self Experimentation

Human Subjects

Testing for Sexual Difference

The Complications of Race

Abortifacients

5. Linguistic Imperialism

Empire and Naming the Kingdoms of Nature

Naming Conundrums

Exceptions: Quassia and Cinchona

Alternative Naming Practices

Conclusion: Agnotology

Notes

Bibliography

Index

  • Cover: Plants and Empire
  • A photo of the author

Photo by Geoffrey Schiebinger

Londa Schiebinger is John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science and Barbara D. Finberg Director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Stanford University.