Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Goss, Andrew, Ph. D.

Title The floracrats : state-sponsored science and the failure of the Enlightenment in Indonesia / Andrew Goss
Published Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, ©2011

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xiv, 256 pages) : illustrations
Series New perspectives in Southeast Asian studies
New perspectives in Southeast Asian studies.
Contents Apostles of enlightenment -- Quinine science -- Treub's beautiful science -- Ethical professionals -- The nationalists' enlightenment -- Technocratic dreams -- Desk science
Summary Situated along the line that divides the rich ecologies of Asia and Australia, the Indonesian archipelago is a hotbed for scientific exploration, and scientists from around the world have made key discoveries there. But why do the names of Indonesia's own scientists rarely appear in the annals of scientific history? In The Floracrats Andrew Goss examines the professional lives of Indonesian naturalists and biologists, to show what happens to science when a powerful state becomes its greatest, and indeed only, patron. With only one purse to pay for research, Indonesia's scientists followed a state agenda focused mainly on exploiting the country's most valuable natural resources & mdash;above all its major export crops: quinine, sugar, coffee, tea, rubber, and indigo. The result was a class of botanic bureaucrats that Goss dubs the "floracrats." Drawing on archives and oral histories, he shows how these scientists strove for the Enlightenment ideal of objective, universal, and useful knowledge, even as they betrayed that ideal by failing to share scientific knowledge with the general public. With each chapter, Goss details the phases of power and the personalities in Indonesia that have struggled with this dilemma, from the early colonial era, through independence, to the modern Indonesian state. Goss shows just how limiting dependence on an all-powerful state can be for a scientific community, no matter how idealistic its individual scientists may be
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-247) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Botany, Economic -- Political aspects -- Indonesia
Science and state -- Indonesia -- History
Civil service -- Indonesia -- History
Botanists -- Indonesia -- History
Enlightenment -- Indonesia -- Influence
Federal aid to research -- Indonesia -- History
SCIENCE -- History.
Botanists
Botany, Economic -- Political aspects
Civil service
Enlightenment -- Influence
Federal aid to research
Colonies -- Administration
Netherlandish colonies
Science and state
SUBJECT Netherlands -- Indonesia -- Netherlands -- Colonies -- Administration
Subject Indonesia
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780299248635
0299248631
1283077558
9781283077552