American Tropics: The Caribbean Roots of Biodiversity Science

Flows, Migrations, and Exchanges

by Megan Raby

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.

336 pages, Hardcover

Published November 13, 2017

Reviews

[Mark Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

At its heart, American Tropics is about place-based biology. Raby is invested in the ways in which place, as well as the political, social, and environmental structures of that place, have affected the production of biological knowledge over the past century. Beginning with the period just before the Spanish-American War, Raby demonstrates how these place-based biological stations rest upon imperial, and "neo-imperial" sites of conquest and power, in order to produce knowledge that is perceived to be by and for white westerners (she is particularly interested in the US). As she argues, "scientific place" was created by removing "unscientific" elements, specifically including indigenous and other non-white voices, bodies, and ways of knowing. (129) Aside from racially oppressive knowledge production, Raby also pays particular attention to the ways in which "pure science," or science for the sake of knowledge, has been at times buttressed by (and at times, against) practical science. As she argues, it is worth considering how much our scientific knowledge (whether about tropical biodiversity, or otherwise) stems from intended practical purposes. These are often, as she has demonstrated, imperial in nature.

Raby structures American Tropics in a "change over time" format, examining the myriad pressures put on American scientists in the tropics over a century: 1890s-1980s. Many of her primary sources stem from the various publications of these scientists themselves, charting this change over time. In this regard, Raby does a nice job of balancing the science and the large cast of characters actually "doing" that science. This further supports her argument that these biological epistemes are intrinsically linked to human (again, often imperial or neo-imperial) concerns. By following the places themselves over the century, Raby is able to demonstrate the circumstances and people who give birth and meaning to these spaces. The change over time method does leave some wanting more in-depth discussion of certain people, places, and chronologies. Yet it seems clear that tracing the evolution of place-based science was Raby's intent, and she has accomplished it well. Further combing through her bibliography will allow those wanting more to find what they are looking for.

[CL Chu · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent historical analysis on the intertwined development of topical biology and United States-Caribbean politics in the first two-thirds of 20th century. This is a must-read book for any ecology student or person interested in the broader significance the concept "diversity" entailed.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This history of US research stations in the Caribbean and Latin America argues that tropical field biologists were critical for the development of biodiversity science.

[Erin]

summer 24 - GSRM