[...]vel ="trms">books were very popular. They created a sense of curiosity, ex="trms">citement, adventure, and even moral fervor about European expansionism. They were, I argue, one of the key ="trms">instruments that made people “at home” in Europe feel part of a planetary project; a key ="trms">instrument, in other words, in creating the “domestic subject” of empire.

the rise of ="trms">natural ="trms">history

These case studies are shaped by a number of shared ="trms">questions. With what ="trms">codes has ="trms">travel and exploration ="trms">writing produced “the rest of the ="trms">world” for European ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">readerships at particular points in Europe’s expansionist process='qstn'>?

="trms">codifications of reality

="large lg2" stl="font-size:110%"> the emanating glow of the civilizing ="trms">mission
the cash flow of development

(it habitually blinds itself to) the reverse dynamic

obsessive need to ="trms">present and re-="trms">present its peripheries

It becomes dependent on its others to know itself

important ="trms">historical ="trms">transitions alter the way people ="trms">write, because they alter people’s experiences and the way people ="trms">imagine, feel and think about the ="trms">world they live in.

='lgc'>[...='lgc'>]how European ="trms">travel ="trms">writing ="trms">interacted with enlightenment ="trms">natural ="trms">history to produce a Eurocentered form of global or “planetary” consciousness.

='lgc'>[="ppl">Pratt considers='lgc'>] the classificatory schemes of ="trms">natural ="trms">history in ="trms">relation to the vernacular peasant knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edges they sought to displace.

tourist propaganda
testimonio
oral ="trms">history


If one studies only what the Europeans saw and said, one reproduces the monopoly on knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge and ="trms">interpretation that the imperial enterprise sought.


the passport='lgc'>: contact zone, like the flirting gaze of an ="nms">Iranian woman with German ambassadors in ="ppl">Olearius images
Transculturation is a ="trms">phenomenon of the contact zone.
metropolitan modes of re="trms">presentation

creating (your own) autonomous decolonized cultures
dynamics of creole self-="trms">fashioning

="ppl">Pratt's “contact zone”='lgc'>: the space of imperial encounters, the space in which peoples geographically and ="trms">historically separated come into contact with each other and establish ongoing ="trms">relations, usually involving conditions of coercion, radical inequality, and ="trms">intractable conflict.

“contact ="trms">language”='lgc'>: an improvised ="trms">language that develops among speakers of ="trms">different tongues who need to ="trms">communicate with each other consistently, usually in the context of trade.

“colonial frontier” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “contact zone” shifts the center of gravity and the point of view
...the space and time where subjects previously separated by geography and ="trms">history are co-="trms">present, the point at which their ="trms">trajectories now ="trms">intersect

a “contact” perspective emphasizes how subjects get constituted in and by their ="trms">relations to each other


='strcls'>* ="trms">travelers and ="trms">travelees ='strcls'>*
in terms of co-="trms">presence, ="trms">interaction, ="trms">interlocking understandings and practices, and often within radically a="trms">symmetrical ="trms">relations of power


='strcls'>***strategies of innocence='strcls'>*** (constructed in ="trms">relation to older imperial ="trms">rhetorics of conquest)
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> main protagonist of the anti-conquest is a figure (="ppl">Pratt sometimes calls) the “seeing-man”='lgc'>: (an admittedly unfriendly label for) the white male subject of European landscape discourse='lgc'>--he whose imperial eyes passively look out and possess


the idioms of ="trms">travel and exploration


two processes in Northern Europe (“planetary consciousness”)='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•the emergence of ="trms">natural ="trms">history as a structure of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge
="lsts lst1">•the turn toward ="trms">interior exploration
='lgc'>+
="lsts lst1">•Bourgeois forms of subjectivity consolidated themselves
="lsts lst1">•new territorial phase of capitalism propelled by se="trms"nttrm="search">arches for raw ="trms">materials began
="lsts lst1">•coastal trade extended inland
="lsts lst1">•


ways of ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading and focusing ="trms">rhetorical analysis

="display:block;white-space:nowrap;margin-bottom:-1em;overflow:hidden;">...................................

='lgc'>[="ppl">Brancaforte='lgc'>]

word ='lgc'>+ image
art ='lgc'>+ ="trms">science
visual ='lgc'>+ discursive

the reality that he ='lgc'>[="ppl">Olearius='lgc'>] has experienced

="ppl">Conley='lgc'>: “the mass of textual ="trms">material that accompanies single-sheet or atlas maps tends to reveal its ideological perspective in the gaps between a silent, spatial, schematic rendering of an area (in visual form) and a voluble ='lgc'>[por harf پر‌حرف='lgc'>], copious, emphatic, printed discourse that strives to tell of the invisible ="trms">history that the image cannot put into words”

="large lg6" stl="font-size:105%"> ="trms">questions of
="lsts lst1">•="trms">authorship
="lsts lst1">•political power
="lsts lst1">•intellectual influence


Meerwunder, exotic curiosities from the sea


“we were about a gun-shot's distance”

in the age of incipient European colonia="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list expansion

a truly Baroque (bestseller) work, Vermehrte Newe Beschreibung der Muscowitischen and Persischen Reyse
(in terms of Oriental drama)
erudition (fazl فضل) ='lgc'>+ adventure ='lgc'>}='lgc'>-> in ="trms">narrative
="lsts lst1">•it is Adventure Time




="large lg1" stl="font-size:147%"> proto-ethnography
acquire eyewitness information about a relatively unknown part of the ="trms">world
="prgrph">-(with ="ppl">Olearius's style we can hear) ethnography's mantra='lgc'>: “="trms">writing from the ground” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> attention to the shakenness of ="trms">difference (encountered or ="trms">imagined) ='lgc'>[="ppl">="ppl">Stewart bringing my attention to the ="trms">writing ="trms">affect:='lgc'>] “ground” sends people bouncing, takes place as a threshold, hits the senses as a set of provocations. “="trms">Writing ="trms">matters if objects of analysis are to be understood as emergent forms with qualities, intensities, and ="trms">trajectories that can be described or evoked. ="trms">Writing is not epi="trms">phenomenal to thought but its medium. As it sidles up to ="trms">worlds, disparate and incommensurate things throw themselves together.” (="ppl">="ppl">Stewart 2012)
(the ground of ="nms">Iran on which ="ppl">Olearius stands cannot be summarized in a ="trms">literalized description, under the spell of a kind of cartographic shorthand ='lgc'>[tond-nevisi تند نويسى، مختصر نويسى='lgc'>], into a strangely idea="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list paradigm that ="trms">imagines the things of the ="trms">world)
='strcls'>*="trms">writing can be='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•the practice of ="trms">writing ourselves into our ="trms">worlds as emergent and disparate ensembles ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> speculative concept of ‘="trms">worlding.’ ='lgc'>[to consider our='lgc'>] ="trms">writing as an inscription that configures the spaces of form and event in daily living
="lsts lst1">•="ppl">="ppl">Stewart slowed ethnographic practice='lgc'>: Why does ="trms">writing ="trms">matter in ethnography='qstn'>? How do forms of ="trms">writing change cultural theory='qstn'>? What ="trms">questions do forms of ="trms">writing raise about subjects and objects, forms of attention, the possibility of thinking through description='qstn'>? How do you describe a s="trms">cene, a character, an event, a ="trms">situation, a collective sensibility, a ="trms">difference, a ="trms">world='qstn'>? What does it mean to add ="trms">density and texture to ethnographic description='qstn'>? What can ethnography do='qstn'>?
="lsts lst1">•attuned to the ='strcls'>*forms and forces='strcls'>* un="trms">folding in s="trms">cenes and encounters ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*="trms">apparatus of conceptualization='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[pulled into (a tricky) alignment with (your field's) immanent concerns and with the concerns of the ="trms">worlds.='lgc'>] your (="trms">anthropological) objects have to “be walked around,” “approached from precise angles,” and seen as “states of being,” emergent, or suspended in potentiality, or collapsing, or residual, roosting on live ="trms">matter. ='strcls'>*culture ='lgc'>~= ='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]the cultural='lgc'>: “a resonant and magnetizing field that registered in people and things living through events and conditions.” we try to describe sensibilities hitting people and ="trms">traversing ='lgc'>[...='lgc'>] things='lgc'>:
="lsts lst2">◦bodies of thought
="lsts lst2">◦assemblages of infrastructures and institutions
="lsts lst2">◦new ="trms">ecologies
="lsts lst2">◦the rhythms of a daily living
="lsts lst2">◦the strangely connective tissue (produced by handheld devices and ="trms">social media)
 ='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to ="trms">compose a register of the lived ="trms">affects of the things that took place in a ="trms">social-="trms">aesthetic-="trms">material-political ="trms">worlding ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= “to track the predetermined effects of abstractable logics and structures."='lgc'>] ='strcls'>***singularities='strcls'>*** take place as a series of precisions (across ="trms">sociality, ="trms">materiality, infrastructure, etc.) they are “events of,” emerged in the lived problematics of a ="trms">present ='lgc'>==> they could be brought to bear, deployed, maneuvered, suffered, or played with. ='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]="trms">affects='lgc'>: “registering of life as an assemblage of elements thrown, in the course of events, into a contact ="trms">aesthetic” ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= the side effects of ="trms">systems, ="trms">codes, or ="trms">imaginaries (located in an elsewhere)='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•return (="trms">anthropology) to sense and sensation (='lgc'><== ="trms">affect) (="ppl">Olearius missed this, the “="trms">world” is proposed to him anchored in the consciousness of ='lgc'>[his='lgc'>] humanist subject or its ="trms">categories of thought. he misses ="nms">Iran as a ="trms">world charged with ="trms">affect, which is a prolific, mixed-use contact zone in an ongoing state of ="trms">transition that leaves ='lgc'>[="nms">Iranian='lgc'>] people “improvising with al="trms"nttrm="already,spread">ready-felts” ='lgc'>[='lgc'>~=='qstn'>? Golestan ="ppl">Sa'di='lgc'>]) ='lgc'>-- ="trms">affect added an affirmative critique that registers surprise at what and how things happen.
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]="trms">affective subject='lgc'>: “a person who waits in the company of others for things to arrive, one who learns to sense out what's coming and what forms it might take, one who aims to notice what crystallizes and how things ricochet and rebound in a ="trms">social-="trms">natural-="trms">aesthetic ="trms">ecology of com="trms">positions and thresholds of expressivity.” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “For the ="trms">affective subject, there is always the weight of the ="trms">world in what can be hoped for and what must be feared, in what flourishes and what ="trms">matters.”
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]Life='lgc'>: “an experiment of being in a ="trms">world, of finding ways to be in circuits of force and form, an aspiration to get something out of the alchemical transmogrifications of things that twist off on ="trms">trajectories far beyond humanist models of suffering or the usual hyperlegible registers of normativity and the state.” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “='lgc'>[Life='lgc'>] takes place in the inhuman ="trms">gestures of demons and angels, in the struggles of addicts and the rage of racists, in the endurance of the unbelievably injured or the oddly still curious.” (="ppl">="ppl">Stewart)
="lsts lst1">•a ="trms">world de="trms">literalized (with no endemic divide between a ="trms">naturalized given order and the exceptionalism of event)
="lsts lst1">•things, to become recognizable as something to be in or near, or else to oppose and resist
="lsts lst1">•(="trms">affect ='lgc'>--="ppl">Deleuze='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) ="trms">differential ="trms">ontology='lgc'>: the prolific generativity of ="trms">difference and connection taking place in a field of possibilities. ="trms">affect studies now hitting='lgc'>:
="lsts lst2">◦="trms">anthropology
="lsts lst2">◦new ="trms">materialism
="lsts lst2">◦object-oriented ="trms">ontology
="lsts lst2">◦="trms">naturecultures
="lsts lst2">◦multi="trms">species work
="lsts lst2">◦="trms">science studies
="lsts lst2">◦new ="trms">ecologies
 ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “the generativity and volatility of life as such, to its capacity to actively shift or harden into forms of peace or violence, pleasure and pain, collectivities and chaos.”
='lgc'>[...='lgc'>] it looks for ways to describe what precedes and exceeds the ="trms">categorical in the labors of living through ="trms">historical ="trms">presents.
='lgc'>[...='lgc'>] ="trms">affect-inflected ='lgc'>[study='lgc'>] leans into its descriptive objects with an eye to their hardenings into something recognizable (='lgc'>=/= what is often called ‘critical thinking’='lgc'>: habits of snapping, to catch the ="trms">world in a lie, dua="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list dead ends of ="trms">modernist humanist ="trms">social ="trms">science, independent logic of ="trms">data, the conviction that something is wrong ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">paranoid approaches to the ="trms">world)
="lsts lst1">•ethnographic ="trms">method of ="trms">mattering, ='lgc'>[why conceptuality might take radically ="trms">different forms in ="nms">Iran='qstn'>?='lgc'>] attention to the still un="trms">folding ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="frds scrmbld">Foad's (mental habit of) describing the fixed object of destiny (of ="nms">Iran).='lgc'>] how to move in the manner of things slipping in and out of existence='qstn'>? the way a ="trms">world (in this case='lgc'>: ="nms">Iran) elaborates in prolific forms, taking off in directions. the ="nms">Iranian real is alchemical, ="trms">traveling in circuits of impact and reaction, in which things happen. we must train ourselves on an effort to describe the iterations/durations/modes of “being taking place.”


="large lg6" stl="font-size:112%">

Said='lgc'>: “='thdf'>the idea of re="trms">presentation is a theatrical one='lgc'>: the Orient is the ="trms">stage on which the whole East is confined. on this ="trms">stage will appear figures whose role it is to re="trms">present the larger whole from which they emanate...”
='lgc'>[when we use “theater” in a cartographic sense it refers to the dynamic space where the “I” or the “self” sees itself engaged in a public space (of kin, of others, of economic and political forces)='lgc'>]

the theatrical arts='lgc'>: spoken work ='lgc'>+ visual ="trms">spectacle ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> rise of opera
='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> rise of ="trms">natural ="trms">history='lgc'>]


observers of the ="trms">differences between their civilization and that of the Persians, their standards of ="trms">measure were those of the West='lgc'>:
Xenophon
Herodotus
Quintus Curtius Rufus
Strabo
Pausanias
Ammianus Marcellinus
Barnabas Brissonius
Pietro Bizzarri
Johannes de Laet
Thomas Herbert
Hans Schiltberger
Hans Christoph von Teufel
Stefan Kakasch
Anthony Jenkinson
Anthony and ="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Robin,Robot,Robert,Robocop">Robert Sherley
Thomas Coryat
Pietro della Valle
Garcai de Silva y Figueroa
Jean Babtiste Tavernier
Raphael du Mans
="ppl">Olearius (1636)
Engelbert Kaempfer

a ="trms">Greek invented dichotomy='lgc'>:
(="trms">Greek) small democracies ='lgc'>=/= (Persian) powerful empire
modestia (cult of the simple and good) ='lgc'>=/= superbid (pride)
law ='lgc'>=/= monarch


="large lg14" stl="font-size:129%"> ‘conflict’ is a theme


Europe/Persia reasons for contact ="trms">according to Cambridge ="trms">History of ="nms">Iran='lgc'>:
="lstsrd">1- ="trms">religious incentive (moharek محرک)
="lstsrd">2- both against the Ottoman Turks
="lstsrd">3- commercial incentive
="lstsrd">4- ="trms">travelers passed through Persia


Duke Frederick's commercial venture that would put the tiny territory on the map, as it were, and eliminate all its debts ='lgc'>[...='lgc'>] with Adam ="ppl">Olearius chosen to chronicle the ="trms">mission as its official secretary
“Duke's stated aim in sending the embassy to Persia was to establish a trade route with Persia and obtain ex="trms">="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clusive ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rights to export silk from the area, thus squeezing out the other European competition, especially the Dutch”

his ="trms">methodology
(="ppl">Olearius's ="trms">citational mobilization) a typical Baroque ="trms">writer, he ="trms">cites classical and Renaissance sources copiously and compares them to each other, thus paying homage to the scholarly tradition
="lsts lst1">•="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list the main features of a subject under discussion
="lsts lst1">•quote classical and contemporary ="trms">authorities ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> elicit ="trms">different opinions
="lsts lst1">•

='strcls'>*correction of faulty source ="trms">material imperative='strcls'>*

Harvey's new theory of the circulation of blood

="ppl">Olearius='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•seasickness could be caused by motion of the waves
="lsts lst1">•“="trms">monsters” living along the Siberian coast are wrong
="lsts lst1">•

="ppl">Olearius's ="trms">methodology is that of a comparatist
he juxtaposes (the customs and ="trms">social structures of the people he meets with those of his native land)

="ppl">Olearius's trip ='lgc'>==> production of (superior maps)
="ppl">Olearius ='lgc'>==> maps
Qazwini ='lgc'>==> ="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">lists
="ppl">Sa'di ='lgc'>==> de-vice

="ppl">Olearius's The Vermehrte Newe Beschreibung in="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">cludes large, detailed, ="trms">fold-out maps describing...
as well our ="trms">technique in our work, with ="frds scrmbld">Sana
="prgrph">-our work/contribution in="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">cludes placing maps and figures with the flux of discourse (='lgc'>=/= ="ppl">Olearius)

description of (the Persian) “natives” and their “="trms">nature” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a ="trms">codification of his human hosts


traditional western stereotypes regarding exotic ="trms">eroticism

Shah Safi's banquet (sur سور) cor="trms">responds fully to a European's notion of what an oriental feast should entail

he marks the poles of Persian culture='lgc'>: as the site, on the one hand, of voluptuous, ="trms">erotic encounters, and of un="trms">natural cruelty and despotism on the other hand ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> meant for the moral edification/="trms">codification of its western ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">readers. (="trms"nttrm="already,spread">readers were taught about ="trms">different countries ='lgc'>+ taught to be better European persons ='lgc'>[with proper ="trms">differences='lgc'>])


Baroque's ="trms">excess of information
(as ="frds scrmbld">Pierre also noted in my style of ="trms">language)

Beschreibung

='strcls'>*** the customs of the observed peoples ='strcls'>***
='lgc'>='lgc'>-->(="trms">language of pictorial re="trms">presentation emphasized)

temporal displacements ='lgc'>[in his frames pictures='lgc'>]
inscriptions, conveying a sense of movement


="large lg3" stl="font-size:111%"> scorpion bites ="ppl">Olearius (“Ich vom Scorpion ="trms">gestochen” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> oriental d="trms"nttrm="danger,stranger">anger) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> specimen scorpion (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> immobilized and tamed) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> back in the Kunstkammer ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> Duke's cabinet of curiosities (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> on display)
='lgc'>["his” experience ='lgc'>=/= ="ppl">Sa'di's ="trms">technologies of ="trms">writing='lgc'>]

="ppl">Olearius ='lgc'>+ Hakwirdi ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> Golestan of ="ppl">Sa'di

="ppl">Sa'di's influence on German baroque ="trms">literature='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•Grimmelshausen (Simplicissimus)
="lsts lst1">•Lohenstein (Ibrahim Bassa and Ibrahim Sultan)
="lsts lst1">•Gryphius (Catherina von Georgien)
="lsts lst1">•Montesquieu (Letters Persanes)
="lsts lst1">•="ppl">Goethe (West-östlicher Divan)


Jens from Kiel library, like ="ppl">Olearius, is appointed court librarian, by state/Duke, given the task of cataloging and expanding the ducal/official collection, and developing the Duke's Kunstkammer/Wunderkammer

="large lg4" stl="font-size:112%"> Gotterffische Kunstkammer ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “Wunderbuch” (="trms">book of ="trms">wonders), with its insistence on the concepts of ="trms">writing ='lgc'>+ drawing

="ppl">Olearius's genre of frontispiece, his engraved title pages ='lgc'>--follow='lgc'>='lgc'>--> Norbert='lgc'>: kluger Vater or fleissiger Praeceptor
clever father / industrious preceptor مرشد مربى ='at'>#="nms">Pir ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “our common father in heaven"='lgc'>], wants to introduce his ="trms">children and students to something in arts or ="trms">sciences, “make them understand” by means of his mouth ='lgc'>+ pen ='lgc'>:
='strcls'>*analogy/[...]