This issue marks the beginning of Itinerario’s fifth decade, and the editors have sought to make it representative of what the journal has been known for during the last forty years. The opening interview with Anthony G. Hopkins looks back at the study of historical globalization, the limitations of historiographical trends, and the question of how historians could and should engage with society at large. Hopkins also reflects on the research articles in this special issue, which all focus on the ways in which colonial and postcolonial societies relate to indigenous groups and indigenous knowledge. Brett Bennett, the convener of this special issue, discusses the broader relevance of this theme for global history in an introduction co-authored with Gregory Barton.
Collectively, the research articles in this special issue engage with the interaction between colonial states and indigenous people and knowledge. Barton asks if the organic farming method is really based on non-western practices, as its first proponents have claimed. Bennett shows us how the effective decolonization of South Africa and Australia from Britain influenced the rise of indigenous gardening and the growing popularity of native gardens at a critical period in gardening and environmental history. Tim Rowse reflects on what information is gained and what is lost or obscured in colonial statistical tables that describe indigenous populations. Sarah Irving questions how the Scottish enlightenment has shaped practices of organizing useful knowledge about societies in a universalist way, and how its legacy endures. The issue closes with a reflection by Anthony Hopkins on whether globalization is really ‘yesterday’s news’.
The editors are very excited to present another ‘From the Archives’ section in this issue as well. The inclusion of critical and annotated source publications, as well as inventories and overviews of underused materials and archives, are a unique feature of this journal and a tradition we cherish. We are grateful that we were able to include two such contributions in this anniversary issue. Andrew Newman presents an anthology of excerpts from histories and travel accounts, which all feature representations of the Dido ‘ox-hide measure’ motif in indigenous (oral) traditions about the founding of European colonies across the globe. Sebastian Prange offers readers a virtually unknown manuscript on the early Portuguese presence in India. It purports to be an English translation of a sixteenth-century Malayalam history from the court of Calicut, and therefore holds the promise of adding an Indian perspective to a history that has been written largely on the basis of European sources. The article examines the evidence for the author’s claim of having translated the text from an original palm-leaf manuscript held by members of Calicut’s royal family.
Finally, Anton Feddema has designed a timely cover for this upcoming volume. Last year, thirty-four hitherto completely unknown drawings by Frans Post (1612-1680) were discovered in the provincial archives in Haarlem. Post worked in Brazil between 1637 and 1644 in the entourage of Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen, and is known primarily for his paintings of Brazilian landscapes. Each issue in this volume will showcase one of these newly discovered original studies of Brazilian fauna, which Post used for his later paintings.
The Editors
