The idea for this volume took shape within a group of scholars working on the history of science in Asia. The subject area is unique and the book can be used as supplemental reading for the history of science in 'non-western' countries.
How do Documents Become Sources? Perspectives from Asia and Science Florence Bretelle-Establet From Documents to Sources in Historiography The present volume develops a specific type of critical analysis of the written documents that have become historians' sources. For reasons that will be explained later, the history of science in Asia has been taken as a framework. However, the issue addressed is general in scope. It emerged from reflections on a problem that may seem common to historians: why, among the huge mass of written documents available to historians, some have been well studied while others have been dismissed or ignored? The question of historical sources and their (unequal) use in historiography is not new. Which documents have been used and favored as historical sources by historians has been a key historiographical issue that has occupied a large space in the historical production of the last four decades, in France at least.
How do Documents Become Sources? Perspectives from Asia and Science Florence Bretelle-Establet From Documents to Sources in Historiography The present volume develops a specific type of critical analysis of the written documents that have become historians' sources. For reasons that will be explained later, the history of science in Asia has been taken as a framework. However, the issue addressed is general in scope. It emerged from reflections on a problem that may seem common to historians: why, among the huge mass of written documents available to historians, some have been well studied while others have been dismissed or ignored? The question of historical sources and their (unequal) use in historiography is not new. Which documents have been used and favored as historical sources by historians has been a key historiographical issue that has occupied a large space in the historical production of the last four decades, in France at least.
From the reviews:
"The resulting collection is a complex and stimulating blend of detailed scholarly investigations and general historiographical observations contributed by an impressive line-up of researchers. ... serve the two sets of readers who will no doubt be interested in this book, those who are curious in the specialised treatments and ... those who are drawn to the broad themes that these detailed studies offer. ... scholarly erudition throughout the book as a whole is commendable, and it is an asset to the advancement of the field." (Clemency Montelle, Metascience, Vol. 21, 2012)
"The resulting collection is a complex and stimulating blend of detailed scholarly investigations and general historiographical observations contributed by an impressive line-up of researchers. ... serve the two sets of readers who will no doubt be interested in this book, those who are curious in the specialised treatments and ... those who are drawn to the broad themes that these detailed studies offer. ... scholarly erudition throughout the book as a whole is commendable, and it is an asset to the advancement of the field." (Clemency Montelle, Metascience, Vol. 21, 2012)