Victorians response Kaitlin
The development and growth of the British Empire changed the way that Britain was connected to science and technology. Discoveries and innovation were far more global than they had been in the past. This expansive ownership must have had some kind of impact on the British people.
It’s difficult to comprehend just how expansive the British Empire was at the height of colonialism because famously “the sun never set on the British Empire.”
There were many discoveries and inventions that came from colonization. Quinine was developed by observing local indigenous treatments of malaria. As Ganges writes, this allowed for further exploration and exploitation of the larger African continent. With the increasing exploration of territories there were more advanced maps. The field of cartography was developing. The telegraph dramatically shortened the amount of time it took to send and receive messages. This made communication across the territories far easier. The increase in both medical safety and the ease of communication meant that scientific discovery and innovation became easier as well. English scientist could venture farther into “unknown” territories.
Astronomy is also an interesting point. Eclipses were particularly significant: “The Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Society used these expeditions as markers of royal prestige: they were entangled with Britain’s political and military activities” (83). Eclipse followers wrote dramatically about their experiences traveling the world. They went to exotic locations, and their accounts were read widely.
Given what we now understand about other past civilizations, predicting eclipses is not unique to Europeans. The framework through which Victorians understood this knowledge is odd. It fails to recognize any advancements or validity of other groups of people: “ennobled feelings were often contrasted with disdain for the supposed responses of natives who in Africa ran in great distress… [for] they could not comprehend the nature of meaning of an eclipse’ or Chinese observers who ‘beat their gongs all through totality to drive away dragons’” (85). Both of these observations are likely either intentionally derogatory exaggerations or misunderstandings of the cultural practices of the area—something that the British were never guilty of.
Ganges mentions the very telling imperial scientific plot of King Solomon’s Mines in which captured Englishmen are condemned to execution, but because they are able to accurately determine when an eclipse will occur, they convince the African natives that they have godlike capabilities. I think this speaks to two important features of the British Empire. First, they completely underestimate the complexity of local indigenous populations. Second, there is a clear sense that scientific knowledge is the mark of an advanced civilization.
It’s important too not to ignore the use of Victorian pseudoscience to justify racist practices.
I think all of this relates to the larger idea of being able to classify and categorize everything in the world. As ridiculous to us as it is, phrenology must have been a comfort—the idea that you could quantify and measure the criminal potential of an individual.
There was also debate over polygenesis versus monogenesis models of human origin. If humans came from one source, surely humanity is interrelated, and therefore slavery is a horrifying practice. If there was no interconnectedness in humanity, then slavery could be justified because some humans were inferior to others.
The specialization of knowledge is another important part of Victorian scientific understanding. Scientific knowledge was far more generalized in the early Victorian age. In fact in a later chapter, Ganges discusses how natural history seemed a logical extension of religious study, so many theologians also studied subjects like geology. As subject knowledge increased, different fields became more specialized. With this specialization, the sciences seem to have become more politicized as well.
Many of these scientific concerns and paradigm shifts are reflected in the literature and arts of the time. Victorians tried to make sense of their place in history. They were obsessed with the past in some ways. There was a Greco-Roman preoccupation in literature and politics. The Gothic Revival made medieval architecture popular again. Interestingly the Greco-Roman enthusiasts were often politically differently minded than the Gothic Revival enthusiasts. Histories of the Tudor dynasty were also popular.
Science fiction began to emerge as a popular genre. These works were originally called “scientific romances” (113). According to Wikipedia, this term was also used to dismiss scientific theories and writings that were considered “too fanciful.” There may also be a reference to Romantic literature. Features of early science fiction may have seemed too fanciful to be much more than the supernatural.
Much like science fiction today, “1890s sci-fi explores the social and ethical impact of scientific inventions” (113). There are two competing but related narratives: the scientist as hero and the scientist as arrogant villain. Both William Morris’ News from Nowhere and Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward imagine the future positively. Jules Verne’s stories have an excitement for exploring new areas including the deep sea and space. H. G. Wells is an interesting author because he takes a more negative approach to the genre. The Island of Doctor Moreau is about the problems of experimenting on humans. The Sleeper Awakes is about a man who sleeps for two centuries because of his medication and awakes to a world where industry is taking advantage of working class people. There seem to be two ideas at work. First, there is a mistrust of medicine which makes sense in a time of little pharmaceutical oversight. Second, there is a mistrust of industry’s exploitation of working people, which also makes sense in the Victorian age when reforms were desperately needed in order to make the lives of workers safe and livable. Ganges mentions that H. G. Wells was also a popular history writer of the time.
This concern with both the past as a measure of the contemporary world and the future as belonging to the great Victorian scientific explorers and developers is one of the many interesting contradictions of the Victorian age. Ultimately though with science fiction, Victorians seemed to no longer need to look backward in history to understand who they were, and instead they could think of themselves as setting future history in motion.
This didn’t quite fit in my response, but it came up in the readings. I found Ganges’ writing on Victorian archaeology particularly interesting. I must admit that I am very biased. I studied archaeology as an undergraduate. What is interesting to me is that Near Eastern studies and Egyptology still dominant many university archaeology departments today. The practices of archaeology, thankfully, have changed significantly since the Victorian era, but those same research interests remain.
Kaitlin, what an amazing and helpful summary! I really appreciate your personal insight as well.
You mentioned that phrenology “must have been a comfort”. Since the beginning of our tribal origins, humans have often reverted to an “us” vs “them” mentality or variations of that.
During the Victorian Age, the Victorians put other peoples into “categories” and forced them to fit into groups that were created through falsehoods and pseudoscience
Britian is no longer an imperial power, but history repeats itself.
Do you think that the United States is acting today, like Britian did in the Victorian age? I would love to draw some parallels with you and hear your thoughtful insight!!
I think that the United States is essentially trying to be an empire, much like Britian, with our ubiquitous, global military presence. Our diplomacy also is reflective of “empire”. I think America’s “manifest destiny” movement was birthed from a sentiment very similar Britian’s ( during her time of Victorian expansion.)
You mention that H.G. Wells’ writing reflects the idea that there was a “mistrust of medicine which makes sense in a time of little pharmaceutifual oversight”. This was an illuminating comment! I am now thinking of the Invisible Man differently. H.G. wells seems to be reflecting a distrust for science, similarly to how he reflects a distrust of medicine.
Oh interesting! I didn’t know you studied archaeology! What is your predominant area of study/ interest?
Hello, Gabby,
I’m hesitant to make broad statements about history, but there are certainly echoes of imperialism that are apparent today—particularly with this administration. It’s apparent too in the historical treatment of Native Americans.
As far as the parallels between the US and Victorian Britain, were you thinking of the contradictory views of indigenous groups or more the idea that any place that is open for economic exploitation is up for grabs?
I studied stone tools. I worked at the university museum for a few years, and my primary job was doing the initial cataloging for the objects brought back from excavations. From this experience, I learned about Acheulean industry stone tools.
I didn’t have the opportunity to study this in college, but I really have an interest in Celtic and Viking archaeology.
I was interested in your comments about the reflection of societal and intellectual shifts being present in the art and literature of the Victorian era. It is interesting to notice patterns in history: similarly, the concerns and emotional trauma of the first World War was particularly evident in the literature. To illustrate, T.S. Elliot’s “The Wasteland” is a poem that uses symbolism to discuss the overall state of disillusionment and devastation across Europe.
Hello, A. Murguia,
Although World War I is a little later than the Victorian period, “The Wasteland” is certainly a good example of literature concerned with the breakdown of society. Throughout the poem there is a mixture of languages that form a kind of rubble. There is an inability to understand what the world means. Those same anxieties about what living in the contemporary world means are also apparent in early Victorian science fiction.