Reading between the LinesThe name of the game will be to leave the boundaries open and to close them only when the people we follow close them.Bruno Latour 1    . When the combined interests of commerce, abolition, and exploration catalyzed British support for the massive Niger Expedition of 1841, the ambitious Theodor Vogel managed to get himself appointed to the distinguished post of chief botanist. 2 It was a minor coup. The young Prussian had never actually been to the tropics. In fact, he had never been any closer to West Africa than western Germany, where the nearest thing to the tropical Niger was the distinctly temperate Rhine. 3 Nor had he much exposure to West African flora. His expertise was based on the study of a Brazilian collection conveniently ensconced in a herbarium in Berlin. But

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Drawing from a combination of the author's own research on Portugal's empire and recent work across a range of disciplines, this essay discusses the growing dialogue between Latin American studies and science and technology studies (STS). It discusses key similarities and differences in the questions, methods, and theoretical frameworks which have guided research in both areas. It focuses particular attention on the divergent ways in which the two interdisciplinary arenas of scholarship have handled objects and materiality. The author argues that despite important differences in orientation, a focus on objects and materiality informed by STS perspectives can broaden the archive available to scholars of colonial Latin America, challenge and extend critical insights of colonial research, and call into question the adequacy of conventional Latin American and Atlantic spatial frameworks.

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