Department of History

In a brief period of time the coffee
boom, European immigration and the
“atlanticization” of various sectors of life
saw São Paulo transform from a small
village into a thriving Atlantic metropolis.
In the early decades of the twentieth century,
observers described the city as Yankee City,
due to its progress and activity. To what
extent does neurasthenia, namely “the
most modern and American of disorders”,
tally with that image? After analysis of
advertisements, scientific books and texts
for the dissemination of science, as well
as articles in journals, it can be stated
that neurasthenia was prevalent and
widespread. This work emphasizes the socio-
cultural familiarity of São Paulo with the
phenomenon of neurasthenia.

Reviews on:
- http://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-15626
- https://www.uni-erfurt.de/fileadmin/user-docs/Ostasiatische_Geschichte/Rezension_Michoacan.pdf
and (in Spanish): http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=13723093012

Sowohl Wissensgeschichte als auch Globalgeschichte stellen stark prosperierende Bereiche der derzeitigen historiografischen Debatte dar. Wissensgeschichte löst sich seit ein paar Jahren allmählich von der Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Über einen Wissensbegriff, der gesellschaftlichvermachtete Relationen fokussiert, entstehen neue Fragestellungen in und mit anderen historischen Disziplinen. Andererseits stellt Globalgeschichtsschreibung vor allem mit postkolonialen Ansätzen in vielerlei Formen ältere Ansätze der (Global-)Geschichte infrage – insbesondere ihre epistemisch-eurozentrischen Grundannahmen. Wissen und (koloniale) Macht spielen in beiden Bereichen eine zentrale Rolle. So verwundert es nicht, dass jüngst einige einschlägige und lesenswerte Werke erschienen sind, die das Verhältnis von Wissens- und (post)kolonialer Geschichte analysieren. Drei dieser Werke gilt es im Folgenden zu besprechen. Die zentrale Frage lautet dabei: Wie gehen die Autorinnen und Autoren mit den Begriffen Wissen und Kolonialismus um, wie setzen sie die Begriffe ins Verhältnis? Als Einstieg folgt eine historiografische Verortung zur Einbettung der drei Werke. Resümierend werden Problemstellungen und weitere Perspektiven skizziert und mit dem Konzept des „translokalen Wissensakteurs“ konturiert.

The following article points from a historical perspective to different formations and appropriations of images of Brazil between the 16th and 19th centuries. Hardly any other region had coined the image of America in Europe for centuries. As such “Brazil” coined also the transatlantic relations, their image policies and the close relations between human beings and their worlds/environments. Around 1500, “America” as an event, its staging into the old European, salvific oriented world-view had revolutionized this world-view from the ground. On the other hand the forms, the practices and the strategies concerning the production of knowledge were transformed: Referring to empiric studies became more convincing than references to authorities (as the holy bible). Relations between men and their worlds were multiplied. From a historical perspective, images served in many cases as media for dealing with these complexities by framing and objectifying them. The article is criticizing the European efforts of framing and objectifying the New World and is putting them in their historical contexts by analyzing the American as well as the European spatio-temporal localization practices. This means that the article is observing their temporal dynamics and the colonizing strategies as well as the appropriations and interpretations. After treating early modern images of America and Brazil the main chapter is focusing on forms and strategies of knowledge production of spatio-temporal mental maps in the long 19th century, starting with the dichotomizing images of the Central European “Enlightenment” and then highlighting the Brazilian appropriations and interpretations of the European oriented topos of “Brazil as island” and the image of the Americanized Bandeirantes/Fronteira. The article combines perspectives from Global History with such from Environmental History and Visual Studies.

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In a brief period of time the coffee boom, European immigration and the atlanticization of various sectors of life saw São Paulo transform from a small village into a thriving Atlantic metropolis. In the early decades of the twentieth century, observers described the city as Yankee City, due to its progress and activity. To what extent does neurasthenia, namely "the most modern and American of disorders" tally with that image? After analysis of advertisements, scientific books and texts for the dissemination of science, as well as articles in journals, it can be stated that neurasthenia was prevalent and widespread. This work emphasizes the socio-cultural familiarity of São Paulo with the phenomenon of neurasthenia.