Travels in a Haunted House. Rational Curiosities and Overlapping Dichotomies in Duncan McPherson MD’s Account of the ‘Chinese Expedition’ of 1840–1842
Journal: Palgrave series in Asia and Pacific studies
Year: 2022

Abstract The chapter proposes to explore rational curiosity as a key category to unpack nineteenth-century British perspectives on Asia, and especially China. Duncan MacPherson’s account is interpreted from a new perspective, which highlights both imperialist rhetoric and overlapping dichotomies. A careful reading shows how even at the height of European expansion we do not find in travel literature any clear dichotomy of East vs West, but rather a Eurocentric view of material and scientific pro