'To bewilder the enemy and mislead him continually as to our real positions and attentions is one of our most hopeful tasks and to do this ingenuity, imagination and daring are required.'(Ronald Penrose, 1941, Home Guard Manual of Camouflage, p.13) This thesis approaches the cultures and geographies of military conflict, charting the history of military camouflage through a multi-faceted biography of this technology’s life-path. By studying the scientific biography of Dr Hugh Cott (1900-1987), eminent zoologist and skilful artist turned camoufleur in WWII, entwined with the fragmentary mobile biographies of other camouflage practioners, including artists, animals and even a magician, the sites and spacings of camouflage’s life-path from the late-nineteenth century into the Desert War are traced. The military’s enrolment of diverse outside specialists practised in visual literacy is examined to reveal that technological development led to transformations, not only in military knowledge, but also in the militarism of knowledges such as science and art. Moving through the scientists’ fieldsite, the committee boardroom, the military training site and the soldiers’ battlefield, this thesis uncovers the history of a most ambiguous military invention, exposing its darker patterning and thus subverting a long-dominant narrative of camouflage as solely a protective technology. Furthermore, this camouflage biography is narrated from the perspective of the technology’s inventors and practioners as a means to encounter the situated and also embodied nature of technological innovation in military conflict. It demonstrates that, as camouflage transformed battlefields into unsettling theatres of war, there were lasting consequences not only for knowledge and technology, but also for both the ethics of battle and the individuals enrolled in this process. Overall, this geographically structured biography explores how camouflage is a jarring technology, combining aesthetic and artistic appreciation with complex scientific theory, to guileful and deadly effect.
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机译：``使敌人迷惑并不断误导他的真实位置和注意力是我们最有希望的任务之一，并且要做到这种独创性，想象力和胆识。''（罗纳德·彭罗斯（Ronald Penrose），1941年，《迷彩服》（Home Guard Manual of Camouflage，p。 13）本论文探讨了军事冲突的文化和地域，通过对该技术生命路径的多方面传记来勾勒军事伪装的历史。通过研究休·科特（Hugh Cott）博士的科学传记（1900-1987），杰出的动物学家和熟练的艺术家在第二次世界大战中变成了伪装者，与其他伪装者的零碎移动传记相融合，包括艺术家，动物，甚至魔术师，追溯了十九世纪末到沙漠战争中迷彩的生活轨迹。考察了军方在视觉素养方面实践的各种外部专家的录取情况，以揭示技术发展不仅带来了军事知识的变革，而且还导致了诸如科学和艺术等知识的军事化方面的变革。本论文遍历科学家的现场，委员会会议室，军事训练场和士兵的战场，揭示了一项最模棱两可的军事发明的历史，揭露了其较暗的图案，从而颠覆了长期以来对迷彩的主要叙述防护技术。此外，这本伪装传记是从技术发明者和从业者的角度叙述的，是一种在军事冲突中遇到技术创新的既定又体现的本质的手段。它表明，随着伪装将战场转变为动荡的战场，不仅对知识和技术产生持久影响，而且对战斗伦理和参与该过程的个人都产生持久影响。总的来说，这本地理结构的传记探讨了伪装是一种令人震惊的技术，将美学和艺术欣赏与复杂的科学理论相结合，产生了诡诈而致命的效果。
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