Collection and Discovery: Indigenous Guides and Alfred Russel Wallace in Southeast Asia, 1854-1862

Abstract

This study uses the correspondence and published narratives of Alfred Russel Wallace’s travels in Southeast Asia to reveal the significant contributions of indigenous Southeast Asians in the development and advancement of scientific knowledge in the region. This analysis problematizes the Eurocentric narrative of discovery as a primarily white, male endeavour, and instead argues that discovery could only occur with the assistance of a vast network of knowledge and exchange. Chinese immigrants, female travel writers, indigenous tribes, and European assistants made up a significant part of this network, but scientists such as Wallace often exclude these people from their public narratives of “discovery.”