Paper short abstract:

This presentation explores the issue of maps and materiality by juxtaposing the festive regional dancing of Celts with models of scientific anatomy.

Paper long abstract:

This paper addresses directly the issue of maps and materiality but in a slightly different way. Maps and models of various kinds have long been important in understanding the material world in Europe and America and have had an important place in fields often deemed, within an Enlightenment tradition, to be metaphorically opposed: for example, cultural identity construction and scientific practice. The sober practice of scientific anatomy is one example chosen here, juxtaposed with the festive regional dancing of Celts, to address some of the issues involved.