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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hansen, Jason D., author.

Series:

Oxford studies in modern European history

Oxford Studies in Modern European History

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cartography--Germany--History--19th century.

Cartography.

Statistics--Germany--History--19th century.

Statistics.

Ethnology--Germany--19th century.

Ethnology.

Nationalism--Germany--History--19th century.

Nationalism.

Political statistics.

History.

Germany.

Germans--19th century--Statistics--History.

Germans.

Political statistics--History--19th century.

Germany--Maps--History--19th century.

Genre:

Statistics.

Maps.

History.

Physical Description:

xvi, 193 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps (some color) ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Ordering Nations 3

Nationalism and Cartography 9

The Broader Geographical Context 11

Plan of the Study 13

I Counting Germans: The Search for a Practical Means to Measure Nationality 16

Statistics as a Science of Nationality 20

Enumeration: Mechanisms of Data Collection 38

Conclusion: A Believable Method for the Measurement of Nationality 50

II Mapping Germans: Making the Cultural Nation Visible 51

Early Nineteenth-century Ethnographic Maps, c. 1820-60 55

"Accurate" Ethnographic Maps, c. 1860-90 64

Conclusion: The Triumph of the Ethnographic Map 71

III Radical Germans: Demography and Nationalism, 1880-1914 75

Demography and Location, 1870-90 80

Demography, Method, and Continuity, 1880-1914 87

Demography, Vision, and Nationalism. 1880-1914 94

Conclusion: Agency Over the Language Frontier 100

IV Connecting Germans: The Circuitry of National Knowledge 103

Circulating Knowledge 105

Newspapers to the Rescue 110

Points of Refraction 123

Conclusion: Circulation, Legitimacy, and Science 128

V Defending Germans: Strategies of Intervention 130

Pixilating The Kultuniation 132

Building the Nation 140

Conclusion: Radicals, Not Revolutionaries 147

Conclusion: Statistics and Cartography, War and Peace 150

Ethnographic Statistics, Maps and Preparations for Peace 150

At the Paris Peace Conference 154

The Legacy of Statistics and Maps at the Peace Conference 158.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 162-190) and index.

ISBN:

9780198714392

0198714394

OCLC:

882899252

Publisher Number:

9780198714392