Book bonus: sex botany and empire
Michelle lea Pervin
130673150

For the first chapter the three S’s, I thought that it was very smart of the author, Patricia Fara to start the book of with a quote. This quote gave an outline of the man topics of the book, travel, botany and of course how it relates to sex. Although, this was a non-fictional book the author still opened the book as if it was a fictional story. It appears to be fictional because of the way the author described Harriet Blosset. Patricia Fara described her as “Harriet Blosset was rich, beautiful, and delighted to be watching opera with her fiancé, a wealthy young Lincolnshire landowner called Joseph Banks. “ If someone were to read that the first sentence of Sex, Botany and Empire they make think that this is a non-fiction story about a romance from the 18th century rather than a non-fiction book about plants. This was very surprising for me as the reader, but I think Patricia Fara’s writing style made the book more exciting. I found the book extremely interesting, not dry and textbook like as I thought it would be. In this chapter, the author wrote about Banks adventure to Tahiti. I found it extremely interesting that even though the voyage took place in the eighteenth century Tahiti is still known as “the island of love”. I also found it rather comical that Banks fiancée Harriet Blosset became extremely depressed after the departure of Joseph Banks. Yet, Banks seemed to have an amazing time on his endeavor and even had an affair with Otheothea. I also found it funny how so little has changed even though this took place three hundred years ago. This is in regards to gossiping; today we have countless articles speculating certain celebrities and their adulterous ways. Even though this took place in the eighteenth century poets would write about Banks cheating with the Tahitian prostitute. In this chapter, Patricia Fara discussed how Joseph Banks had such a profound impact on the relationship between the scientific world and state. Also, how he ensured that the British Empire reigned supreme. Yet, with all of his accomplishments I have never learned about Joseph Banks until I read this book. It is shocking that such a powerful person was never mentioned in history or biology before.
In chapter two entitled the Scientific Swede I learned all about Carl Linnaeus. I was really excited to learn about him because starting in the eleventh grade I was taught about Linnaeus and his important classification system. I also find it amazing that even though Linnaeus designed this system over 200 hundred years ago it is still used today. Everyone even if they do not have a clue that Carl Linnaeus is they would know that Homo sapiens is referring to us (humans). Throughout this chapter I enjoyed learning about how Carl Linnaeus theory reflects his religious beliefs such as how he used bride and marriage for the sexual parts. This theory also represents the male dominance in society by giving males priority over female parts. I found it rather comical how Linnaeus described the sexual parts of plants. “the flowers’ leaves… serve as bridal beds which the creator has so gloriously arranged, adorned with such soft noble bed curtain, and perfumed with so many soft scents that the bridegroom with his bride might there celebrate their nuptials with so much the greater solemnity.” (22) To many people this sounds like a romance novel yet it was used for plants. This also shows Carl Linnaeus importance on religion how even for plants sex is restricted for marriage. In this chapter, the scientific swede it was fascinating to learn how even a devout Christian botanist used propaganda to promote his image. As depicted in the image Carl Linnaeus wanted to seem well- off and well-traveled when we he wore the Sami clothes. I also found it hilarious how he outfit did not make any real sense. For example, how his beret was something that is typically worn by females. From coming from such a humble town in my opinion, Carl Linnaeus is rather pretentious to call himself “the second Adam.” But this also represents how central his religion was to his life. In the eighteenth century classification for flowers was an ideal hobby for women because it was simple enough to understand. This is an additional example of the chauvinistic world that we used to live in.
Chapter three is entitled the British Botanist and focused on the triumphs of Joseph Banks. I found it surprising that after his death Joseph Banks lost all of his popularity because he was so power hungry. Banks triumphs I believe would not have happened if he was not so financially well off. Banks story is not the crowd pleasing underdog one of someone from humble beginnings. Banks instead was born with a silver spoon and used his riches to advance him in the world of science. On page forty-nine the sentence, “Banks went to Oxford where many students devoted for more energy to drinking, riding and gambling than to their academic work.” Shows another example of how time has not changed as much as we think. Even in university today many students spend too much time and bars/ clubs than the library. Also similar to Carl Linnaeus, Joseph Banks used media to promote his image. In Joseph Banks portrait he wore clothing from his Tahitian travels to demonstrate how successful Joseph Banks was during his trips. Banks even want as far as selling his portrait for people to have in their homes and marvel even more in his glory. I think that this aided Banks success but gave even more fuel for his critics and others to mock him. An example of this was seen when Banks did not go on a second trip because the navy thought that he would change the whole ship for his liking. An additional example of people’s hatred against Banks was seen in the political satires. That even still exists today. In this satire the critics made fun of Banks sexual adventures (so to speak) in Tahiti. James Gillray made a satire entitled “The Great South Sea Caterpillar; Transformed into a Bath Butterfly” to make fun of Banks accomplishments that made science into to the British state
Chapter four is called Exploration and Exploitation. When I first read the title of this chapter it intrigued me tremendously. I was extremely curious to see what this chapter was about. In this chapter the recording of the transmit of Venus was fought to be completed by the French and British. This is similar to the space race by the United States of America and the USSR to get the first man on the moon. I found it fascinating how there were so many differences on this voyage to Tahiti in comparison to the first trip. This time the British kept their distance from the locals in fort Venus. This is very different than the first trip where they all engaged in local rituals such as dances. Also, this time the islanders stole the brit’s supplies such as guns. In this chapter, Cooks and Banks wanted to find Australia which was known as a mystery island at this time. But, instead they ended up in New Zealand. I also found it funny how Australia was found by accident as well as the Great Barrier Reef. It is also remarkable how in this chapter the crew members were terrified of being killed by the natives. Now, we all know that the opposite happened the British took over and basically wiped out the native people of Australia.
The fifth chapter of Sex, Botany and Empire is entitled Exoticism and Eroticism. In this chapter, I enjoyed learning about how the British validated their empiricism by the bible. For them, in the book of Genesis it said that g-d divided humans into different levels some being above others. The British in this case are above the indigenous people whose land they took over. They also validated themselves using Aristotle Chain of Beings with white European men at the very top. Racism is also extremely evident in these times. Simply the way Linnaeus described the four different groups showed the extremely racist and false views of people other than the Arian race.” Unsurprisingly, Linnaeus's top race was Europaeus albus, the ingenious and sanguine white Europeans. The other three were happy go lucky Red Indians, the melancholy yellow Asians, and the idle black Africans” (102).
Imperialism and institutions was the sixth chapter of Sex, Botany and Empire. In this chapter I found it remarkable how Joseph Banks started out as a botanist and was able to intervene in the British military. It was also quite extraordinary that Banks had a close relationship with King George the third. Joseph Banks was so close with the King that he even took daily walks with him. This relationship undoubtedly benefited Banks who also was a land owner in Lincolnshire by giving him more land. Banks also experimented with interesting new farming techniques. An example of this is using sheep from Spain in the farmland. Yet, not surprisingly Banks with all of his wealth was still power and money hungry. This was demonstrated on page 143; “the best use the land can be put to, is to cultivate THAT crop, wherever it be, which produces the greatest profit VALUED IN MONEY.” It is clear from this chapter that Australia would not have been the way it is today without Joseph Banks. Banks is considered to be one the” Father and Founder of the Australian colonies” (152) yet very few people know of Joseph Banks.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment. I believe that the author Patricia Fara did an amazing job at telling the story of Joseph Banks. Fara kept the story exciting and even comical at times which is extremely rare in a plant book. Without a doubt, I would recommend this book, entitled Sex Botany and Empire.