The natural history of ındian serpents: Dr. patrick russell, colonial medicine and the british empire

İskoçya‘nın Edinburgh şehrinde doğup büyüyen, İskoç Aydınlamasının önde gelenlerinden Dr. Patrick Russell onsekizinci yüzyıl İngiliz Hindistan‘ında zorluklar içinde yeni bir disiplin oluşturdu: yılanların doğal tarihi. Ayrıca Russell Hindistan‘da botanik ve balıklar üzerinde yorulmaksızın bilimsel çalışmalar yürüttü. Russell‘ın kısa Hindistan kariyeri, özellikle yılanlar üzerine çalışmaları göstermektedir ki modern doğa tarihi ile Batı tip bilgisinin birleşimi herhangi bir disiplinin dar kapsamına sığmayan geniş bir süreçtir. Bu makale Batı veterinerliğinin doğal bilim tarihi alanında bir meslek olarak ortaya çıkışını koloni imparatorluğunda özellikle yılan zehirlenlerinin sebep olduğu hastalıklara bakarak incelemektedir. Ayrıca makale Oryantalizmin bilgi yoluyla hakimiyet kurma stratejisini Avrupalıların Hindistan‘daki faaliyetlerini inceleyerek eleştirmektedir.

Hindistan yılanlarının doğal tarihi: Dr. patrick russell, koloni eczacılığı ve ingiliz imparatorluğu

Dr. Patrick Russell, born and brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland, a true product of the Scottish Enlightenment, introduced an original discipline—natural history of serpents—in eighteenth-century British India. He was also indefatigable in his study of Indian botany and ichthyology. Russell‘s brief Indian career, particularly his endeavour in snakology, suggests that the diffusion of modern natural history and knowledge of Western medicine was an intricate process, not confined to any particular epistemological domain. This paper has sought to profile the emergence of Western medical-zoology by individual research, as a constituent of natural history science concerning particularly the snake-poisoning in a colonial empire. The article also critiques the concept of̳Orientalist‘ strategy to dominate the colonised world through knowledge through European knowledge in India.

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