Mapping the Germans : statistical science, cartography, and the visualization of the German nation, 1848-1914 / Jason D. Hansen.

Author
Hansen, Jason D. [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Εdition
First edition.
Published/​Created
Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2015.
Description
xvi, 193 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps (some color) ; 24 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks GA873.7.A1 H36 2015 Browse related items Request

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    Summary note
    This book explores the development of statistical science and cartography in Germany between the beginning of the nineteenth century and the start of World War One, examining their impact on the German national identity. It asks how spatially-specific knowledge about the nation was constructed, showing the contested and difficult nature of objectifying this frustratingly elastic concept. Ideology and politics were not themselves capable of providing satisfactory answers to questions about the geography and membership of the nation; rather, technology also played a key role in this process, helping to produce the scientific authority needed to make the resulting maps and statistics realistic. In this sense, this book is about how the abstract idea of the nation was transformed into a something that seemed objectively measurable and politically manageable. Jason Hansen also examines the birth of radical nationalism in central Europe, advancing the novel argument that it was changes to the vision of nationality rather than economic anxieties or ideological shifts that radicalized nationalist practice at the close of the nineteenth century. Numbers and maps enabled activists to "see" nationality in local and spatially-specific ways, enabling them to make strategic decisions about where to best direct their resources. In essence, they transformed nationality into something that was actionable, that ordinary people could take real actions to influence.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 162-190) and index.
    Contents
    • Counting Germans : the search for a practical means to measure nationality
    • Mapping Germans : making the cultural nation visible
    • Radical Germans : demography and nationalism, 1880-1914
    • Connecting Germans : the circuitry of national knowledge
    • Defending Germans : strategies of intervention
    • Conclusion : statistics and cartography, war and peace.
    ISBN
    • 9780198714392
    • 0198714394
    • 9780191782800
    • 0191782807
    LCCN
    2014940245
    OCLC
    882899252
    International Article Number
    • 9780198714392
    Other standard number
    • 99962801933
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