2017 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

June 01 - 04, 2017

Over the last decades feminist historians of science have shown how women have engaged in the knowledge enterprise by carrying out a much wider variety of roles than had hitherto been acknowledged. Entomological illustration, anatomical modelling, alchemical practice, domestic healthcare or scientific translation are just a few examples of a myriad ways women have participated as active agents of scientific discourse and practice. On the other hand, analysis of how science has been a privileged medium to promote changing notions of masculinity and femininity have been flourishing since the pioneering work of Carolyn Merchant. Drawing on the contributions of these traditions, this panel explores the extent to which scientific discourses envisioned women, both imagined and historical women, in order to represent not the object of knowledge but knowledge itself. 

Using a wide range of textual and iconographical sources covering a chronologically wide spectrum of European cultures, this panel intends to advance earlier approaches by bringing fresh perspectives into the conversation. Methodologically, we propose to investigate the extent to which gendered representations of knowledge may be considered archives of meaning for changing conceptions of both gender and the scientific enterprise. We will delve into diverse and historically contingent contexts of scientific practice where women are portrayed as knowledge or are appealed to as repositories of knowledge. Our aim is to assess how gendered representations of science were associated with particular fields of knowledge; by focusing on female representations we will also be able to shed light on scientific notions of masculinity.