Human Mobility and the Spatial Dynamics of Knowledge: Mapping Science, Technology, and Medicine in and around Late Imperial China

The project “Individual Itineraries and the Circulation of Scientific and Technical Knowledge in China (16th–20th Centuries)” has shed light on the impact of individuals’ geographic mobility on the spatial dynamics of knowledge in late imperial China, where the bureaucratic system dictated a specifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transfers 2019-06, Vol.9 (1), p.42-61
Main Author: Jami, Catherine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
History
History, Philosophy and Sociology of Sciences
Humanities and Social Sciences
Knowledge
Mobility
Social aspects
Social mobility
Technical education
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Summary:The project “Individual Itineraries and the Circulation of Scientific and Technical Knowledge in China (16th–20th Centuries)” has shed light on the impact of individuals’ geographic mobility on the spatial dynamics of knowledge in late imperial China, where the bureaucratic system dictated a specific pattern of mobility for the elites. The question was also studied for other socioprofessional groups—craftsmen and medical doctors—and for the actors of the globalization of knowledge—Christian missionaries, colonial doctors, and the Chinese students. The studies conducted shed light on a variety of places, social milieus, fields of knowledge, and on the conditions of travel of technical knowledge—including sericulture, water conservancy, medicine, natural history, and statistics—against the background of the expertise such as classical scholarship—the dominant body of knowledge, sanctioned by imperial examination—circulated among the elite.
ISSN:2045-4813
2045-4821
DOI:10.3167/TRANS.2019.090104