Feminist historian of science Londa Schiebinger, in her book Plants and Empire:Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World, centered on Caesalpinia pulcherrima as an example, describes the collection and circulation of knowledge of exotic plants by the Europeans in the 18th century, revealing how the knowledge production, a seemingly pure intellectual activity, is shaped by the power relations in the specific time and space. At the same time, Schiebinger's analysis of Linnaeus's bionmial nomenclature shows that, due to the power relation of knowledge, the acceptance of a seemingly neutral scientific language is often not a triumph of knowledge itself, but more like the triumph of a narrative. The book places the historical narrative into its own context and transcends the limit of Eurocentrism, making it to be a good writing reference for current science writing.

Plants and Empire  /  Londa Schiebinger  /  Maria Sibylla Merian  /  Agnotology