The Mapping of the Silk Road by European-Chinese Expeditions (1912-1949)
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2004-05-14
Author(s)
Abstract
I have been especially interested in scientific reports and travel accounts on "Western China" (Gansu, Xinjiang, both Mongolias, and Tibet) because they provide fascinating examples of practices which must be investigated within an interdisciplinary and transnational perspective. I will emphasize in this paper the pivotal role played by maps, photographs, paintings and sketches during the expeditions conducted in 1912 and 1949, and more especially by the Sino-Swedish expedition of 1927-1935. My goal is to understand how the iconography of the Silk Road has articulated the discourse held in the earth sciences between the two world wars. The interaction between early 20th century technology and methodology and the Silk Road yielded in the USA well-known theories about race, the environment, and the "pulse of Asia"? But what do we know today on the European and Chinese geographers, geologists, meteorologists, archaeologists and paleontologists who worked together? What did they think about the political dimensions of their work? How were they able to bring together schorlarship and visual representation? Did they believe in global warming or in the decline of the West? An examination of the maps and images they produced would help with the reconstruction of the intellectual history of the hard sciences in Silk Road studies.
Language
English
Keywords
Maps and images
literary genre
visual genre
spatial representation
Silk Road
history of geography
history of cartography
history of science
Asian studies
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Publisher
University of Zurich
Publisher place
Zurich (Switzerland)
Event Title
Maps and Images : How They Have Transmitted Visual Knowledge Along the Silk Road
Event Location
University of Zurich
Event Date
14.-15.05.2004
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
215252