Author: Staffan Müller-Wille File Type: pdf Until the middle of the eighteenth century, the biological makeup of an organism was ascribed to an individual instance of generation -- involving conception, pregnancy, embryonic development, parturition, lactation, and even astral influences and maternal mood -- rather than the biological transmission of traits and characteristics. Discussions of heredity and inheritance took place largely in the legal and political sphere. In Heredity Produced, scholars from a broad range of disciplines explore the development of the concept of heredity from the early modern period to the era of Darwin and Mendel. The contributors examine the evolution of the concept in disparate cultural realms -- including law, medicine, and natural history -- and show that it did not coalesce into a more general understanding of heredity until the mid-nineteenth century. They consider inheritance and kinship in a legal context the classification of certain diseases as hereditary the study of botany animal and plant breeding and hybridization for desirable characteristics theories of generation and evolution and anthropology and its study of physical differences among humans, particularly skin color. The editors argue that only when people, animals, and plants became more mobile -- and were separated from their natural habitats through exploration, colonialism, and other causes -- could scientists distinguish between inherited and environmentally induced traits and develop a coherent theory of heredity. ContributorsDavid Sabean, Silvia De Renzi, Ulrike Vedder, Carlos Lpez Beltrn, Phillip K. Wilson, Laure Cartron, Staffan Mller-Wille, Marc J. Ratcliff, Roger Wood, Mary Terrall, Peter McLaughlin, Franois Duchesneau, Ohad Parnes, Renato Mazzolini, Paul White, Nicolas Pethes, Stefan Willer, Helmuth Mller-Sievers

Author: Jordan Branch File Type: pdf Why is todays world map filled with uniform states separated by linear boundaries? The answer to this question is central to our understanding of international politics, but the question is at the same time much more complex - and more revealing - than we might first think. This book examines the important but overlooked role played by cartography itself in the development of modern states. Drawing upon evidence from the history of cartography, peace treaties and political practices, the book reveals that early modern mapping dramatically altered key ideas and practices among both rulers and subjects, leading to the implementation of linear boundaries between states and centralized territorial rule within them. In his analysis of early modern innovations in the creation, distribution and use of maps, Branch explains how the relationship between mapping and the development of modern territories shapes our understanding of international politics today. **Review This is a fascinating book that retells history of modern cartography from an international relations perspective. As such, Branch skillfully brings together critical interpretations from two areas of scholarship to provide a compelling argument on how the developments of maps and political sovereignty are crucially linked. The primary thesis is that the depiction of bounded spaces on early modern maps preceded modern political practice premised upon bounded spaces. This has important theoretical ramifications for understanding how a uniquely modern form of relations between states was created ... This book has stimulated me to engage with its ideas it presents a very distinctive and distinguished argument that I recommend others to likewise engage with. Peter J. Taylor, The Cartographic Journal Book Description Todays maps are filled with uniform states separated by linear boundaries. This book examines the important but overlooked role of cartography in shaping the development of modern states. It explores how maps have altered concepts of political space, organization and authority, and transformed practices of internal rule and international interaction.