Between 1876 and World War II, Antwerp's business elite regularly convened at the lectures of the Société Royale de Géographie d'Anvers (SRGA, ‘Royal Geographical Society of Antwerp’). Similarly to other geographical societies emerging across Western Europe at the end of the nineteenth century, these lectures employed the magic lantern to project visual images from distant lands. The SRGA had close ties with King Leopold II of Belgium and his imperial pursuits. Nestled within the international port city of Antwerp, the society attracted an audience vital to Leopold II's colonial ambitions – the city's commercial and financial elite. This study reflects on knowledge production and dissemination within this scientific circle in a Belgian colonial context. Rather than academic enrichment, the evenings were leisure activities, fostering connections among the business elite. Against this backdrop, the article reflects on the concept of scientific legitimacy during a specific era of Belgium's colonial past.

中文翻译：

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英制投影：安特卫普皇家地理学会和魔灯


从 1876 年到第二次世界大战期间，安特卫普的商业精英定期参加 Société Royale de Géographie d'Anvers （SRGA，“安特卫普皇家地理学会”）的讲座。与 19 世纪末西欧出现的其他地理社会类似，这些讲座使用魔灯从遥远的土地投射视觉图像。SRGA 与比利时国王利奥波德二世及其帝国追求有着密切的联系。该协会坐落在国际港口城市安特卫普内，吸引了对利奥波德二世的殖民野心至关重要的观众——该市的商业和金融精英。本研究反映了比利时殖民背景下这个科学圈内的知识生产和传播。晚上不是学术活动，而是休闲活动，促进了商业精英之间的联系。在此背景下，本文反思了比利时殖民历史特定时期的科学合法性概念。