Sex, Botany & Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph BanksIcon, 2003 - 168 pages "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 a naive sexual freedom." "Patricia Fara reveals the existence, barely concealed under Banks's and Linnaecus's camouflage of noble Enlightenment, of the altogether more seedy drives to conquer, subdue and deflower in the name of the British Imperial state."--BOOK JACKET. |
Contents
The Three Ss | 1 |
The Scientific Swede | 19 |
The British Botanist | 47 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Sex, Botany & Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks Patricia Fara Limited preview - 2003 |
Sex, Botany and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks Patricia Fara Limited preview - 2004 |
Sex, Botany & Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks Patricia Fara No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
18th century Admiralty agricultural amongst Arctic astronomical Australia Banks and Solander Banks's became boasted Botanic Garden botanist breadfruit Britain British Museum Cambridge University Carl Linnaeus Chelsea Physic Garden civilisation classifying climate clothes collection colonial converted Cook Cook's crops cultivated Darwin Endeavour Journal England English Enlightenment Europe Europeans exotic expedition explorers famous female Figure flowers foreign French friends gentlemen George guns Homo human imperial islanders James Boswell James Cook Joseph Banks King land later Lincolnshire Linnaean Linnaean classification Linnaeus's London major source Maori Matthew Darly ment natural Nature's Government never Omai Omai's organising Pacific Parkinson plants and animals political portrait Purea Quotations Quoted in Gascoigne Quoted in O'Brian Royal Society sailed Sami Sandwich scheme Service of Empire sexual sheep ship Sir Joseph South species specimens Sweden Swedish Tahiti Tahitian transit of Venus travellers trees University Press Uppsala Venus voyage women wool Zealand