Linnaeus in Lapland: Generating Knowledge in Transit

Elena Isayev and Staffan Müller-Willle present their plans for a collaborative research project that consists of two intertwined elements: a new English on-line edition and translation of Carl Linnaeus’s diary of a journey through Lapland undertaken in 1732, and a re-enactment of that journey. One of the principal subjects Linnaeus enquired about, and took note of, was how natural resources and ways of life contributed to the well-being of local populations. In particular, he exalted Sámi culture as a model of healthy life, while also promoting colonization. He thus objectified Lapland and its inhabitants in a proto-colonial manner, while also being on a guided tour, eagerly collecting information provided by people that were on the move as well, usually spoke more than one language, and helped him find his way. The diary therefore provides a window on past practices of generating biomedical knowledge “in transit,” but also deals with issues of contemporary relevance, ranging from sustainability and wellbeing to indigeneity and sovereignty. By combining re-translation and re-enactment of the journey they envisage an entirely novel methodology of scholarly edition, working in tandem as a catalyst for contemporary public discourse on issues ranging from sustainability and wellbeing to indigeneity and sovereignty.

Elena Isayev, professor of Ancient History and Place at the University of Exeter, UK where she is addressing questions of migration, belonging, displacement, encounter, politics of exception and constructions of place - with its related theme of memory-making and heritage.

Dr. Staffan Müller-Willle is University Lecturer in History of Life, Human and Earth Sciences at University of Cambridge, UK. He approaches questions of historical epistemology – how knowledge is attained and how it changes over time – through detailed case studies covering the history of the life and the human sciences since the early modern period. He is particularly interested in the role of classification in the generation of knowledge, and modes of knowledge transfer.