Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human - New Worlds, Maps and Monsters

Davies examines how Renaissance illustrated maps shaped ideas about peoples of the Americas, revealing relationships between civility, savagery and monstrosity.

List of contents

Introduction: Renaissance maps and the concept of the human; 1. Climate, culture or kinship? Explaining human diversity c.1500; 2. Atlantic empires, map workshops and Renaissance geographical culture; 3. Spit-roasts, barbecues and the invention of the Brazilian cannibal; 4. Trade, empires and propaganda: Brazilians on French maps in the age of François I and Henri II; 5. Monstrous ontology and environmental thinking: Patagonia's giants; 6. The epistemology of wonder: Amazons, headless men and mapping Guiana; 7. Civility, idolatry and cities in Mexico and Peru; 8. New sources, new genres and America's place in the world, 1590-1645; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Surekha Davies is a cultural historian and historian of science at Western Connecticut State University. Her interests include exploration, observational sciences, cultural encounters, monstrosity and the history of mentalities c.1400–1800. Formerly a British Library Curator and a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, she is a Founding Editor of the series 'Maps, Spaces, Cultures' (Brill). She has held fellowships at the John Carter Brown Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress and the Newberry Library, and been funded by the American Historical Association and the American Philosophical Society. Her publications include articles in The Historical Journal, History and Anthropology, Renaissance Studies and The Journal of Early Modern History.

Summary

Surekha Davies examines how Renaissance illustrated maps shaped ideas about peoples of the Americas, revealing how mapmakers devised detailed images and descriptions that placed peoples within a hierarchy of civility and savagery. Davies shows how ideas about monstrosity were crucial for early modern ethnology and, consequently, for colonial expansion.

Product details

• Authors: Surekha Davies, Davies Surekha
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2017
• EAN: 9781108431828
• ISBN: 978-1-108-43182-8
• No. of pages: 379
• Series: Cambridge Social and Cultural; Cambridge Social and Cultural Histories; Cambridge Social and Cultural
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; Europe, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Cartography, Cartography, map-making & projections, 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699, Social and cultural history, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, The Americas, Cartography, map-making and projections, 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599, c 1500 to c 1600