Description |
1 online resource (xiv, 361 pages) : illustrations |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Contents |
pt. 1. The eyes of others -- Farmers and kings -- The paper road -- The golden mountain gate -- part 2. Bodies real and virtual -- Lost worlds -- The mountain -- Adventurers -- The book of the Earth. |
Summary |
"This exhilarating book interweaves the stories of two early twentieth-century botanists to explore the collaborative relationships each formed with Yunnan villagers in gathering botanical specimens from the borderlands between China, Tibet, and Burma. Erik Mueggler introduces Scottish botanist George Forrest, who employed Naxi adventurers in his fieldwork from 1906 until his death in 1932. We also meet American Joseph Francis Charles Rock, who, in 1924, undertook a dangerous expedition to Gansu and Tibet with the sons and nephews of Forrest's workers. Mueggler describes how the Naxi workers and their Western employers rendered the earth into specimens, notes, maps, diaries, letters, books, photographs, and ritual manuscripts. Drawing on an ancient metaphor of the earth as a book, Mueggler provides a sustained meditation on what can be copied, translated, and revised and what can be folded back into the earth"--Provided by publisher. |
Note |
Print version record. |
Subject |
Forrest, George, 1873-1932 -- Travel.
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Rock, Joseph F. (Joseph Francis), 1884-1962 -- Travel.
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Botany -- Fieldwork -- China -- Yunnan Sheng -- History -- 20th century.
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Botany -- Fieldwork -- China -- Gansu Sheng -- History -- 20th century.
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Botany -- Fieldwork -- China -- Tibet Autonomous Region -- History -- 20th century.
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Yunnan Sheng (China) -- Description and travel.
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Gansu Sheng (China) -- Description and travel.
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Tibet Autonomous Region (China) -- Description and travel.
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Botanists -- Scotland -- Biography.
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Botanists -- United States -- Biography.
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Botany.
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NATURE -- Plants -- General.
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SCIENCE -- Life Sciences -- Botany.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
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Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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Electronic books.
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Other Form: |
Print version: Mueggler, Erik, 1962- Paper road. Berkeley : University of California Press, ©2011 9780520269026 (DLC) 2011017740 (OCoLC)712114217 |
Standard No. |
9786613291882 |
ISBN |
9780520950498 (electronic bk.) |
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0520950496 (electronic bk.) |
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