Animals on ancient maps (1500-1800) : spaces, knowledge and representations
Émilie Dreyfus (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / UMR Géographie-cités) will defend her thesis, conducted under the supervision of Gilles PALSKY, Professor Emeritus of Geography (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) and entitled “Animals on early maps (1500-1800): spaces, knowledge and representations”
Friday 15th December
14h
University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Salle Duroselle
4 rue Cujas
75005 Paris
Members of the jury
Jean-Marc BESSE, Directeur d’études, École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Examinateur)
Catherine HOFMANN, Conservatrice en chef, Bibliothèque nationale de France (Examinatrice)
Isabelle LABOULAIS, Professeure d’histoire moderne, Université de Strasbourg (Rapporteure)
Gilles PALSKY, Professeur émérite de géographie, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Directeur)
Jean-François STASZAK, Professeur de géographie, Université de Genève (Rapporteur)
Abstract
This PhD thesis focuses on the zoological motifs depicted on maps produced in Europe in the modern era. The starting point is based on the hypothesis that the animal is not there simply to fill a gap, nor is its role exclusively decorative, but that depending on its positioning on the map and its association with a given geographical space, it is used to convey zoological knowledge, characterize a territory, or construct a certain vision of the world. To this end, the animal is considered as both a sign and an image.
By crossing spatial (Europe and other parts of the world) and temporal perspectives (from 1500 to 1800), and by studying geographical sources through the prism of other naturalist knowledge media (natural history books, travel books, curiosity cabinet catalogs), the aim is also to position the geographical map within the different forms of “narratives” or “images” that write and describe the world.
Finally, given that the geographical map is a political representation of the world, the last part explores issues of domination: of man over animal, using the geographical map as an original source for a geohistorical study of man-animal relations; of Europe over extra-European territories, by highlighting the animal as an element in the construction of ideological, exotic or imaginary spaces.
The aim of this PhD thesis is thus to produce a renewed geohistorical reflection on the status of animal iconography, by demonstrating that it forms an integral part of the geographical discourse produced by the cartographers of early modernity.
The project lies at the crossroads of several disciplinary fields: the history of cartography and geography, the history of publishing, the history of art and the history of science, linked to the question of human-animal relations (“humanimal geography”). The analysis is based on the creation and exploitation of a database listing 7,765 animals on 1,332 maps and globes from all parts of the world, and 61 other sources of naturalist knowledge.
