History of Natural History

Race and Genealogy : Buffon and the Formation of the Concept of “Race

by Claude-Olivier Doron

Draft to be published in Humana.Mente, 22, Special Issue “Making sense of Gender, Sex, Race and the Family”, July 2012

This article analyses the conditions of formation of the concept of “race” in natural history in the middle of the... more This article analyses the conditions of formation of the concept of “race” in natural history in the middle of the XVIIIth century. Relying on the method of historical epistemology to avoid some of the aporia raised by the traditional historiography of “racism”, it focuses on the specifities of the concept of “race” in contrast to others (“variety”, “species”…) and tries to answer the following questions: to what extent the concept of “race” was integrated in natural history’s discourses before the middle of the XVIIIth century? To which kind of concepts and problems was it linked and to which style of reasoning did it pertain? To which conditions could it enter natural history and develop in it? The article answers that “race” pertained to a genealogical style of reasoning which was largely extraneous to natural history before the middle of the XVIIIth century. Natural history was rather dominated by another style of reasoning, logical and classificatory, which principles and concepts defined strong obstacles to the development of a concept of “race”. To understand how the concept of “race” developed in natural history, one has to understand how the genealogical style of reasoning entered natural history and modified the very principles of classification that organized it. I try to establish that it is through Buffon and some of the main authors of the “monogenist” tradition that the most fundamental conditions for the integration of a genealogical style of reasoning and the development of a concept of “race” are met. To put it clearly, in contrast to many scholars’ analysis and following some intuitions of P.R Sloan, I argue that Buffon in particular, and monogenism in general, were decisive in the integration and development of the concept of “race” in natural history.

Oviedo, Monardes, Hernández: El tesoro natural de América: colonialismo y ciencia en el siglo XVI

by Jose Pardo-Tomas

Two glimpses of America from a distance: Carolus Clusius and Nicolás Monardes

by Jose Pardo-Tomas

Escrito en la rebotica. Coleccionismo naturalista y prácticas de escritura en el gabinete de curiosidades de la familia Salvador. Barcelona, 1626-1857

by Jose Pardo-Tomas

Poison: Nature's Argument for the Roman Empire in Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia

by Molly Jones-Lewis

Forthcoming in CW.  The contract is signed and I'm just waiting for the release date.

Abstract: In Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia poisonous plants and animals are intimately associated with their... more Abstract: In Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia poisonous plants and animals are intimately associated with their countries of origin.  Moreover, Pliny often focuses on those poisonous substances found in lands where Rome had carried out major campaigns, particularly Egypt and Pontus.  The power and influence of poisons in these locations is deliberately emphasized in order to justify Italy (and by implication Rome) as a natural physician of the world ideally suited to subdue untamed poisons and make them over as powerful and life-saving medicines.  In this way Pliny structures his view of natura to justify the existence and rule of the Roman Empire.

El Museo Público de Historia Natural, Arqueología e Historia (1865-1867)

by Rodrigo Antonio Vega y Ortega

Azuela, Luz Fernanda y Rodrigo Vega y Ortega, en Luz Fernanda Azuela y Rodrigo Vega y Ortega (coord.), La Geografía y las ciencias naturales en el siglo XIX mexicano, México, Instituto de Geografía-UNAM, 2011, pp. 103-120.

Los establecimientos científicos de la ciudad de México vistos por viajeros, 1821-1855

by Rodrigo Antonio Vega y Ortega

Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades, año XII, núm. 24, segundo semestre de 2010, Universidad de Sevilla/Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua/Universidad Autónoma de Hidalgo, Sevilla, pp. 3-38. ISSN: 0327-7763.

Viajeros extranjeros en el Museo Nacional de México. Del proyecto imperial a la redefinición republicana (1864-1877)

by Rodrigo Antonio Vega y Ortega

Celina Lértora (coord.), Geografía e Historia Natural: Hacia una historia comparada. Estudio a través de Argentina, México, Costa Rica y Paraguay, Buenos Aires, Ediciones FEPAI, 2010, volumen IV, pp. 185-224. ISBN: 978-90-9262-57-7. Dictamen externo].

Constructing Nature Behind the Glass

by Chris Whitehead

Special issue of Museum and Society, (6, no. 2 (2008)), co-edited with S. Alberti

Tales Dead Birds Tell: the historical and cultural context of early avian specimens in the biology collections of Randolph College

by Emily Smith

PHDabstract-résumésdethèse

by Claude-Olivier Doron

This document includes english and french abstracts of my PhD Thesis on 'Races and degeneration. The emergence on the... more This document includes english and french abstracts of my PhD Thesis on 'Races and degeneration. The emergence on the knowledge on the abnormals', a detailed description of the different chapters (in french) and of its main results (in french) and its table of contents.

"A fossilized nut?" : a drawing from Aldrovandi in the Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo

by Alessandro Ceregato

W.D. Ian Rolfe and Alessandro Ceregato, 2009.
Archives of Natural History 36 (1), 160-167.

“Cabinet d’Histoire Naturelle,” or: The Interplay of Nature and Artifice in Diderot’s Naturalism

by Charles Wolfe

Perspectives on Science (2009)

In selected texts by Diderot, including the Encyclopédie article “Cabinet d’histoire naturelle” (along with his... more In selected texts by Diderot, including the Encyclopédie article “Cabinet d’histoire naturelle” (along with his comments in the article “Histoire naturelle”), the Pensées sur l’interprétation de la nature and the Salon de 1767, I examine the interplay between philosophical naturalism and the recognition of the irreducible nature of artifice, in order to arrive at a provisional definition of Diderot’s vision of Nature as “une femme qui aime à se travestir.” How can a metaphysics in which the concept of Nature has a normative status, also ultimately consider it to be something necessarily artificial? Historically, the answer to this question involves the project of natural history. A present-day reconstruction would have to make sense of this project and relate it to the vision of Nature expressed in Diderot’s phrase. In addition, it would hopefully pinpoint the difference between this brand of Enlightenment naturalism and contemporary naturalism, and by extension, allow us to understand a bit more about what naturalism is in general.

Los naturalistas tuxtepecadores de la Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural: desarrollo y profesionalización de la historia natural entre 1868 y 1914

by Rodrigo Antonio Vega y Ortega

Tesis de Licenciatura en Biología, Facultad de Ciencias. UNAM, 24 de octubre de 2007.

Un edificio científico para el Imperio de Maximiliano: El Museo Público de Historia Natural, Arqueología e Historia

by Rodrigo Antonio Vega y Ortega

Azuela, Luz Fernanda, Rodrigo Vega y Ortega y Raúl C. Nieto, en Celina Lértora (coord.), Geografía e Historia Natural: Hacia una historia comparada. Estudio desde Argentina, México, Costa Rica y Paraguay, Buenos Aires, Ediciones FEPAI, 2009, volumen II, pp. 101-124. ISBN: 978-950-9262-43-0. [Dictamen externo].

Las excursiones escolares de la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria en el siglo XIX. Formación y vocación científicas

by Rodrigo Antonio Vega y Ortega

Herreriana. Revista de Divulgación de la Ciencia, vol. 4, núm. 2, octubre de 2008, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas-Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, pp. 10-12. ISSN: 1870-6371

Las excursiones escolares no fueron una innovación de la ENP, puesto que se realizaron constantemente en escuelas... more Las excursiones escolares no fueron una innovación de la ENP, puesto que se realizaron constantemente en escuelas anteriores como el Colegio de Minería. Sin embargo, las de la Preparatoria marcaron un cambio, en el sentido de que fueron contempladas en el plan de estudios de la instrucción secundaria, ya que en los colegios anteriores a 1867, como el de San Juan de Letrán, el de Santos o el de San Ildefonso, no se habían llevado a cabo. De esta manera, las excursiones escolares, en los estudios secundario y superior, colocaron a los jóvenes del último tercio del siglo XIX cara a cara con la naturaleza para su conocimiento directo.
Las dos finalidades educativas que tuvieron dichas excursiones fueron, por un lado, la formación científica de los alumnos, dentro de la orientación positivista que les brindaría el bagaje educativo necesario para desenvolverse en la sociedad. Por otro, despertar la vocación de los alumnos por las ciencias, como la historia natural, con el fin de conformar cuadros científico-técnicos que hicieran posible el progreso material de la nación.
Las excursiones escolares realizadas a través de la ENP fueron importantes en el proceso de profesionalización de las ciencias naturales en México, debido a que los profesores, muchos de ellos distinguidos científicos como Alfonso Herrera, Mariano Bárcena, Jesús Sánchez o Manuel Urbina, mantuvieron contacto con varias generaciones de preparatorianos a los que transmitieron sus conocimientos y formaron en la ciencia positiva de su época. Asimismo, mediante las excursiones, los alumnos estudiaban directamente a la naturaleza, lo que les permitía contar con mayores elementos para determinar si su vocación se encontraba en la historia natural o en alguna otra disciplina.

Instruir, entretener y moralizar. La divulgación de la historia natural y la geografía en las revistas femeninas de México (1840-1855)

by Rodrigo Antonio Vega y Ortega

Tesis de Licenciatura en Historia, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, UNAM, 04 de noviembre de 2009, Mención honorífica.

La colección de Historia natural del Museo Nacional de México, 1825-1852

by Rodrigo Antonio Vega y Ortega

Tesis de Maestría en Historia, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras-UNAM, 01 de junio de 2011, 280 pp. Mención honorífica.

'The Prehistoric Mind as a Historical Artefact’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 65 (2011), 1-8.

by Matthew Daniel Eddy

On 8 July 2010 the front page of The Guardian newspaper featured an attractive colour drawing by the artist John... more On 8 July 2010 the front page of The Guardian newspaper featured an attractive colour drawing by the artist John Sibbick. It was entitled ‘Meet the Norfolk relatives’ and it depicted a pastoral scene of farmers and hunters going about their daily routines. However, the image was not included to illustrate a gargantuan sum recently paid for an impressionist painting. Nor was it a taster for an article about a long-lost work of art. This drawing was slightly different from the kinds that one would normally see on the front of a leading British newspaper. Its subjects were naked. Their bodies were hairy. They were, in fact, an artist’s impression of the early humans who lived on the Norfolk coast a million years ago...

"Until [and a bit after] Darwin"

by B. Ricardo Brown

First half of "Diversity, Culture, Theory, and Data: Science on Human Variety" with Christopher X J. Jensen, Dept. of Math and Science.

SLAS Faculty Research Seminar: Diversity, Culture, Theory, and Data: Science on Human Variety. Monday, November 7th from 12:30-2:00.