Africa as a Living Laboratory
Empire, Development, and the Problem of Scientific Knowledge, 1870–1950
Helen Tilley
- Tropical
- Africa
- was
- one
- of
- the
- last
- regions
- of
- the
- world
- to
- experience
- formal
- European
- colonialism,
- a
- process
- that
- coincided
- with
- the
- advent
- of
- a
- range
- of
- new
- scientific
- specialties
- and
- research
- methods.
- Africa
- as
- a
- Living
- Laboratory
- is
- a
- far-reaching
- study
- of
- the
- thorny
- relationship
- between
- imperialism
- and
- the
- role
- of
- scientific
- expertise—environmental,
- medical,
- racial,
- and
- anthropological—in
- the
- colonization
- of
- British
- Africa.A
- key
- source
- for
- Helen
- Tilley’s
- analysis
- is
- the
- African
- Research
- Survey,
- a
- project
- undertaken
- in
- the
- 1930s
- to
- explore
- how
- modern
- science
- was
- being
- applied
- to
- African
- problems.
- This
- project
- both
- embraced
- and
- recommended
- an
- interdisciplinary
- approach
- to
- research
- on
- Africa
- that,
- Tilley
- argues,
- underscored
- the
- heterogeneity
- of
- African
- environments
- and
- the
- interrelations
- among
- the
- problems
- being
- studied.
- While
- the
- aim
- of
- British
- colonialists
- was
- unquestionably
- to
- transform
- and
- modernize
- Africa,
- their
- efforts,
- Tilley
- contends,
- were
- often
- unexpectedly
- subverted
- by
- scientific
- concerns
- with
- the
- local
- and
- vernacular.
- Meticulously
- researched
- and
- gracefully
- argued,
- Africa
- as
- a
- Living
- Laboratory
- transforms
- our
- understanding
- of
- imperial
- history,
- colonial
- development,
- and
- the
- role
- science
- played
- in both.
