American Tropics

The Caribbean Roots of Biodiversity Science

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Caribbean & West Indies, Science & Nature, Nature, Environment, Ecology, Science, Biological Sciences
Cover of the book American Tropics by Megan Raby, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Megan Raby ISBN: 9781469635613
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: October 3, 2017
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Megan Raby
ISBN: 9781469635613
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: October 3, 2017
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Biodiversity has been a key concept in international conservation since the 1980s, yet historians have paid little attention to its origins. Uncovering its roots in tropical fieldwork and the southward expansion of U.S. empire at the turn of the twentieth century, Megan Raby details how ecologists took advantage of growing U.S. landholdings in the circum-Caribbean by establishing permanent field stations for long-term, basic tropical research. From these outposts of U.S. science, a growing community of American "tropical biologists" developed both the key scientific concepts and the values embedded in the modern discourse of biodiversity.

Considering U.S. biological fieldwork from the era of the Spanish-American War through the anticolonial movements of the 1960s and 1970s, this study combines the history of science, environmental history, and the history of U.S.–Caribbean and Latin American relations. In doing so, Raby sheds new light on the origins of contemporary scientific and environmentalist thought and brings to the forefront a surprisingly neglected history of twentieth-century U.S. science and empire.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Biodiversity has been a key concept in international conservation since the 1980s, yet historians have paid little attention to its origins. Uncovering its roots in tropical fieldwork and the southward expansion of U.S. empire at the turn of the twentieth century, Megan Raby details how ecologists took advantage of growing U.S. landholdings in the circum-Caribbean by establishing permanent field stations for long-term, basic tropical research. From these outposts of U.S. science, a growing community of American "tropical biologists" developed both the key scientific concepts and the values embedded in the modern discourse of biodiversity.

Considering U.S. biological fieldwork from the era of the Spanish-American War through the anticolonial movements of the 1960s and 1970s, this study combines the history of science, environmental history, and the history of U.S.–Caribbean and Latin American relations. In doing so, Raby sheds new light on the origins of contemporary scientific and environmentalist thought and brings to the forefront a surprisingly neglected history of twentieth-century U.S. science and empire.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book The South in the Shadow of Nazism by Megan Raby
Cover of the book Much More Than a Game by Megan Raby
Cover of the book Latinos at the Golden Gate by Megan Raby
Cover of the book From Chicaza to Chickasaw by Megan Raby
Cover of the book The Classical Roots of Ethnomethodology by Megan Raby
Cover of the book Honor Thy Gods by Megan Raby
Cover of the book The Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis by Megan Raby
Cover of the book Advancing Democracy by Megan Raby
Cover of the book An Agrarian Republic by Megan Raby
Cover of the book Creating an Old South by Megan Raby
Cover of the book The View from the Masthead by Megan Raby
Cover of the book A Nation within a Nation by Megan Raby
Cover of the book Eating Puerto Rico by Megan Raby
Cover of the book The Sin of Sloth by Megan Raby
Cover of the book Dreaming of Dixie by Megan Raby
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy