0000000001194163
AUTHOR
Elena Serrano
Patriotic Women: Chemistry and Gender in the Eighteenth-Century Spanish World
During the second half of the eighteenth century, Western countries wit- nessed an explosion of societies and publishing initiatives aimed at creating and disseminating what contemporaries called useful knowledge. These 'economic societies,' 'societies of friends of the country,' or 'societies of im- provers' sought to improve their local communities through the scientific management of natural and social resources. This article analyses the oppor- tunities that this movement of patriots opened up for women in chemistry, who went from being 'exceptional women' to representing themselves as female 'friends of the country.' This article shows the different ways in which these women 'friends o…
Introduction: Epistemologies of the match
Algorithmically driven online dating platforms today promise the ability to sort through relevant data and identify one's ideal amorous matches effectively. Yet the appeal of technological and scientific solutions to the messy problem of finding partners is hardly new. This introduction to the Focus section 'It's a Match!' argues that the history of amorous matching has long been part and parcel of the history of science, in particular the social sciences. Taking matching as an 'applied science of social harmony,' the authors argue that concern over more reliable techniques for determining the suitability of partners has formed an essential part of both the maintenance of social order and t…
Titania–Silica Materials for Enhanced Photocatalysis
Mesoporous titania–organosilica nanoparticles comprised of anatase nanocrystals crosslinked with organosilica moieties have been prepared by direct co-condensation of a titania precursor, tetrabuthylortotitanate (TBOT), with two organosilica precursors, 1,4-bis(triethoxysilyl) benzene (BTEB) and 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl) ethane (BTEE), in mild conditions and in the absence of surfactant. These hybrid materials show both high surface areas (200–360 m2 g−1) and pore volumes (0.3 cm3 g−1) even after calcination, and excellent photoactivity in the degradation of rhodamine 6G and in the partial oxidation of propene under UV irradiation, especially after the calcination of the samples. During calci…
A Feminist physiology: B. J. Feijoo (1676-1764) and his advice for those in love
This essay analyzes how the Benedictine monk Benito Jerónimo Feijoo (1676-1764), one of the most popular Spanish natural philosophers in Europe and America, discussed amorous attraction. In an attempt to reconcile Catholic dogma with empirical knowledge, Feijoo explained the origin of love as the result of wave-like interactions between sensual stimulus, imagination, nerve fibers, and the heart. His physiological model considered men and women to be equal in their internal constituents, which had important consequences for a possible science of matching. First, a possible match could only be known by a physical encounter; second, love bonds could be controlled by training the imagination; t…
Enlightened Female Networks: Gendered Ways of Producing Knowledge (1720-1830)
This special issue investigates women's scientific networks in Europe roughly between 1720 and 1830, an interesting period from a gender point of view. The articles analyse the role that networks played in enabling, shaping and circumscribing women in their intellectual pursuits, social aspirations and ideals. They also focus on the nature of the members' relationships, how women negotiated their scientific identities and how often women could use their femininity to create new social spaces for themselves and their families. We traced different types of networks such as ‘paper’, ‘technical’, ‘distant’ (in its special and temporal sense), ‘moral’ and ‘mixed’, as well as how many of these ne…
Sex and Prisons: Women and Spanish Penitentiary Reform, 1787-1808
Whereas prisons had previously been thought of as transitory places for those awaiting trial, the new prison system aimed at the reformation of convicts. In Spain the first organisation set up to improve prison conditions was the Señoras de las Cárceles. This article shows how the Señoras attempted to erase the sexual aspect of women's prisons and create instead a morally acceptable space in which to educate female prisoners. Their practices reveal how changing ideas about punishment and education, sexuality and gender, entered the Spanish penal system, permeated civil society and facilitated the transition to a different legal regime.
Decentering the Enlightenment : Crossing Global and Gender Perspectives
Global and transnational history and women's and gender history are dynamic historiographical currents that invite more intense cross-fertilization¿especially in studies on the Enlightenment and its open legacy. Our article seeks to stimulate theoretical and methodological discussion on how these approaches might fruitfully interact. What can a gender perspective add to current perspectives on a global Enlightenment? And vice-versa, what do transnational and global perspectives that are interested in cultural transfers and sensitive to empire, race, and ethnicity add to current studies on gender and the Enlightenment? Building on the experience and ongoing research of our collective project…
The Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito (Committee of Ladies of Honour and Merit): Children’s parchments in the Madrid Foundling House (1802)
A finales del siglo XVIII, la Casa de Expósitos de Madrid recibía unos tres o cuatro bebés al día, aproximadamente mil al año. Las tasas de mortalidad eran enormes: más del 90% de los niños morían durante el primer mes de vida. En 1799, una sociedad femenina, la Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito, sustituyó al anterior comité masculino y asumió la totalidad de las funciones. Este capítulo muestra cómo utilizar la documentación elaborada por la Junta como fuente primaria para recurrir a sus prácticas científicas con el fin de reducir los índices de mortalidad. By the late eighteenth century, the Madrid Foundling House received around three to four babies a day, approximately a thousand babies …
Maritime Crossroads : The Knowledge Pursuits of María de Betancourt (Tenerife, 1758-1824) and Joana de Vigo (Menorca, 1779-1855)
This article explores the biographies of two gentlewomen, María de Betancourt (1758–1824) and Joana de Vigo (1779–1855), who lived respectively in Tenerife and Menorca, two crucial nodes in the scientific, commercial and military global networks of the late eighteenth century. Some of their scientific and literary contributions are mapped, paying particular attention to how they became active in contemporaneous learned networks. It is argued that the peculiar, intellectually rich microcosms of the islands shaped these women's lives in ways that enabled them to enter learned circles, either real or imaginary, and from a very modest site to contribute to the global circulation of ideas, goods…
'I am not a lady, I am a scientist.' Chemistry, Women, and Gender in the Enlightenment and the Era of Professional Science. Introduction.
This article introduces a collection of papers on women, gender, and chemistry in eighteenth- and twentieth-century Europe and the United States. After briefly surveying previous research on women and gender in science and outlining the long history of women in chemistry, we present this special issue's main findings concerning several key themes, including the identities and strategies of women engaged in chemical activities and the enabling circumstances and networks that helped these women gain entry into male-dominated institutions and fields of study. We suggest that these overarching themes are equally relevant to the Enlightenment era and the late nineteenth- and early to mid-twentie…
Serena Dyer, Material Lives. Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century. London and New York: Bloomsbury Visual Art, 2020. 272 p. 103 color illus. ISBN: 9781350126961
En su convincente Vidas materiales, Serena Dyer aborda un legado excepcional: los ingeniosos diseños sartoriales de cuatro damas en los que trabajaron durante la mayor parte de sus vidas. El magistral análisis de Dyer de estas fuentes materiales sumerge al lector en el mundo de la sociedad educada y de la moda británica entre las décadas de 1750 y 1820, arrojando nueva luz sobre las creativas y fluidas fronteras entre fabricantes y consumidores. Traducción realizada con la versión gratuita del traductor www.DeepL.com/Translator In her compelling Material Lives, Serena Dyer tackles an exceptional legacy: four ladies’ ingenious sartorial designs on which they worked for most of their lives. D…