History of Science Society Annual Conference, Roundtable

Sat, November 15, 2:00 to 3:30pm, Sheraton New Orleans, Floor: 3rd Floor, Napoleon A3

How did scientific knowledge and imperial expansion evolve together in the early modern world? What did it mean for an empire to “know itself”? This roundtable rethinks the intertwined histories of empire and science. Challenging narratives that position the Chinese and Spanish empires as backward counterpoints to Northern European modernity, we frame them instead as sophisticated, knowledge-making entities deeply engaged with scientific inquiry into scale, diversity, and political authority. By juxtaposing the relaciones geográficas questionnaires of the Spanish world and difangzhi gazetteers of China, contributors show how bureaucratic documents create epistemic infrastructures, spaces where centralizing methodologies confronted local knowledge and where the ambitions and limits of state control became clear. Presenters will discuss comparative approaches to agriculture, diversity, ethnography, and natural resources. The Portuguese empire provides a revealing comparative lens as an “empire of outsiders,” characterized by informal and decentralized scientific practices, underscoring the constraints and complexities of formal bureaucratic science. This roundtable highlights fresh insights into comparative imperial science, innovative material and digital research methodologies, and the politics of information, advocating for a global history that moves beyond myths of exceptionalism.