Africa as a living laboratory : empire, development, and the problem of scientific knowledge, 1870-1950 / Helen Tilley.

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2011.

xiv, 496 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, color maps ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. [439]-483) and index.

An imperial laboratory : scientific societies, geopolitics, and territorial acquisitions -- A development laboratory : the African Research Survey, the machinery of knowledge, and imperial coordination -- An environmental laboratory : "native" agriculture, tropical infertility, and ecological models of development -- A medical laboratory : infectious diseases, ecological methods, and modernization -- A racial laboratory : imperial politics, race prejudice, and mental capacity -- An anthropological laboratory : ethnographic research, imperial administration and magical knowledge -- A living laboratory : ethnosciences, field sciences, and the problem of epistemic pluralism.