Doctoral Dissertation Research: "Networked Knowledge: Socially Embedded Science in Early Modern Siam"

摘要和意义本论文研究的是19世纪泰国暹罗(Siam)授权知识的社会关系，它是两个世界性知识体系：西方科学和本土知识互动的东道主。以前对暹罗的“西方科学的到来”的研究忽视了宗教思想在两种知识体系中的作用，以及本土知识的生命力。这一历史研究将集中于三位开创性人物及其与西方科学知识形式的互动。它将把这些参与者置于西方和佛教知识网络中，这些网络与早期现代暹罗的知识网络重合。然后，这项研究将追溯暹罗机构中西方科学知识的社会生活，这意味着暹罗历史上世俗化概念的彻底重新定义。技术描述提出者将在泰国曼谷进行为期五个月的档案研究，以建立现代科学传播的全球叙述与其本地化的社会和文化偶然过程之间的联系。将发掘的档案来源包括个人图书馆收藏的暹罗精英人物、暹罗和巴利语有关科学和医学的论文，以及南亚和东南亚佛教僧侣通信和交流的记录。通过将科学研究的理论观点与地区研究学术的历史和文化范围相结合，这一研究项目将使未被充分利用的东南亚史料引起科学研究学者的注意，同时也使地区研究学者关注科学研究学术的中心问题。它还将在从世俗化到当地知识问题，包括土著医学传统的专有知识等主题的后殖民研究奖学金方面做出重要贡献。

Summary and significanceThis dissertation is a study of the social relations that authorized knowledge in nineteenth century Siam (Thailand), which played host to the interaction of two cosmopolitan knowledge regimes: western science and indigenous knowledge. Previous studies of 'the arrival of western science' in Siam have ignored the role of religious thought in both knowledge regimes, and the vitality of indigenous knowledge. This historical study will focus on three seminal figures and their interactions with western forms of scientific knowledge. It will situate these actors within the western and Buddhist knowledge networks that coincided in early modern Siam. The study will then trace the social life of western scientific knowledge in Siamese institutions, implying a radical redefinition of the notion of secularization in Siamese history.Technical descriptionThe proposer will undertake five months of archival research in Bangkok, Thailand in order to forge connections between global narratives of the spread of modern science and the socially and culturally contingent processes of its localization. Archival sources to be explored include the personal library holdings of elite Siamese figures, Siamese and Pali language treatises pertaining to science and medicine, and records of Buddhist monastic correspondence and exchange across South and Southeast Asia.By integrating theoretical perspectives from science studies with the historical and cultural purview of area studies scholarship, this research project will bring under-utilized Southeast Asian historical materials to the attention of science studies scholars and likewise expose area studies scholars to the central concerns of science studies scholarship. It will also make important contributions to post-colonial studies scholarship on topics ranging from secularization to issues of local knowledge, including proprietary knowledge in indigenous medical traditions