Christine Y. L Luk: Discovering Freshwater Jellyfish in China: Arthur de Carle Sowerby and Craspedacusta sowerbii, 1880–1941

Science and Technology in Asia @ Harvard- Tuesday, April 23, 10:30 am ET over Zoom

What dose it mean to have “discovered” a new species in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century China? Today, the term “discovery” is heavily criticized in postcolonial studies. Scholars have pointed out that the notions of “new species discovery” reflect a profound Eurocentrism, where explorers claim to have discovered a place or an object as if the local people were unaware of its existence, thus perpetuating a narrative strategy that serves imperialistic knowledge production. In this talk, I emphasize the context in which a new species was discovered and verified by scientist-naturalists is contingent upon the larger historical forces. The late nineteenth and early twentieth century context of science and empire is vastly different from the twenty-first century context of global biodiversity and conservation efforts. Focusing on Arthur de Carle Sowerby’s engagement with Craspedacusta sowerbii in terms of narratives of evolution, nomenclature, and bioinvasion between 1880 and 1941, I present a global history of C. sowerbii, a newly discovered freshwater jellyfish species native to China, first reported in nineteenth-century Britain, and has since circulated across the globe. My talk aims to use the case of Chinese freshwater jellyfish to bring out my larger argument that the context of scientific discovery matters just as much as the content of the discovery.

About our speaker: Christine Y. L. Luk is associate professor in the department of the history of science at Tsinghua University, Beijing. Her research interests are in the history of biology in modern China.

Zoom registration: https://scholar.harvard.edu/seow/STinAsia