Jaime Marroquin Arredondo

Ralph Bauer

Translating Nature recasts the era of early modern science as an age not of discovery but of translation. As Iberian and Protestant empires expanded across the Americas, colonial travelers encountered, translated, and reinterpreted Amerindian traditions of knowledge—knowledge that was later translated by the British, reading from Spanish and Portuguese texts. Translations of natural and ethnographic knowledge therefore took place across multiple boundaries—linguistic, cultural, and geographical—and produced, through their transmissions, the discoveries that characterize the early modern era. In the process, however, the identities of many of the original bearers of knowledge were lost or hidden in translation. The essays in Translating Nature explore the crucial role that the translation of philosophical and epistemological ideas played in European scientific exchanges with American Indians; the ethnographic practices and methods that facilitated appropriation of Amerindian knowledge; the ideas and practices used to record, organize, translate, and conceptualize Amerindian naturalist knowledge; and the persistent presence and influence of Amerindian and Iberian naturalist and medical knowledge in the development of early modern natural history. Contributors highlight the global nature of the history of science, the mobility of knowledge in the early modern era, and the foundational roles that Native Americans, Africans, and European Catholics played in this age of translation. Contributors: Ralph Bauer, Daniela Bleichmar, William Eamon, Ruth Hill, Jaime Marroquín Arredondo, Sara Miglietti, Luis Millones Figueroa, Marcy Norton, Christopher Parsons, Juan Pimentel, Sarah Rivett, John Slater.

Cross-Cultural Histories of Early Modern Science

Translating Nature

Magdalena Mieri

Adela Pineda Franco

Open Borders to a Revolution is a collective enterprise studying the immediate and long-lasting effects of the Mexican Revolution in the United States in such spheres as diplomacy, politics, and intellectual thought. It marks both the bicentennial of Latin America’s independence from Spain and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution, an anniversary with significant relevance for American history. The Smithsonian partnered with several institutions and organized a series of cultural events, among them an academic symposium whose program was envisioned and developed by the editors of this volume: “Creating an Archetype: The Influence of the Mexican Revolution in the United States.” The symposium gathered scholars who engaged in conversation and debate on several aspects of U.S.-Mexico relations, including the Mexican-American experience. This volume consolidates the results of those intellectual exchanges, adding new voices, and providing a wide-ranging exploration of the Mexican Revolution.

Jaime Marroquin Arredondo

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