Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Advanced
Title details for Sex, Botany and Empire by Patricia Fara - Available

Sex, Botany and Empire

by Patricia Fara
ebook
Read a sample Read a sample

When the imperial explorer James Cook returned from his first voyage to Australia, the scandal writers mercilessly satirised the amorous exploits of his botanist, Joseph Banks, whose trousers were reportedly stolen while he was inside the tent of Queen Oberea of Tahiti. Enlightenment botany was fraught with sexual symbolism: Carl Linnaeus's controversial new system for classifying plants was based on their sexual characteristics, and the dangerously gendered language of flowers resonated with erotic allusions. In Sweden and Britain, both imperial powers, Linnaeus and Banks ruled over their own small scientific empires, promoting botanical exploration to justify exploiting territories, peoples and natural resources. Regarding native peoples with disdain, these two scientific emperors portrayed the Arctic North and the Pacific Ocean as uncorrupted Edens enjoying sexual freedom. More than any other single individual, the botanist Joseph Banks welded together the Three Ss - Sex, Science and the State - and the drive to conquer, subdue and deflower loomed large.

Expand title description text
Series: Revolutions in Science Publisher: Icon Books

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9781840464443
  • Release date: November 2, 2009

PDF ebook

  • ISBN: 9781840464443
  • File size: 3784 KB
  • Release date: November 2, 2009

Formats

OverDrive Read
PDF ebook

subjects

History Science Nonfiction

Languages

English

When the imperial explorer James Cook returned from his first voyage to Australia, the scandal writers mercilessly satirised the amorous exploits of his botanist, Joseph Banks, whose trousers were reportedly stolen while he was inside the tent of Queen Oberea of Tahiti. Enlightenment botany was fraught with sexual symbolism: Carl Linnaeus's controversial new system for classifying plants was based on their sexual characteristics, and the dangerously gendered language of flowers resonated with erotic allusions. In Sweden and Britain, both imperial powers, Linnaeus and Banks ruled over their own small scientific empires, promoting botanical exploration to justify exploiting territories, peoples and natural resources. Regarding native peoples with disdain, these two scientific emperors portrayed the Arctic North and the Pacific Ocean as uncorrupted Edens enjoying sexual freedom. More than any other single individual, the botanist Joseph Banks welded together the Three Ss - Sex, Science and the State - and the drive to conquer, subdue and deflower loomed large.

Expand title description text
History Science Nonfiction