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Práticas da História No. 10
Sep 18, 2020 | 2020, Editions, Práticas da História
![Capa do Nº 10 da revista Práticas da História](https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Praticas-Historia_N10_2020_600x900.png)
Práticas da História – Journal on Theory, Historiography and Uses of the Past
- 2020
- Issue 10
- ISSN: 2183-590X
- Special issue: Luso-tropical, Oriental, and Post-luso-tropical Medievalisms: Crossroads in the definition of the Portuguese Middle Ages as Brazil’s past — Edited by Pedro Martins and Maria de Lurdes Rosa
Excerpt from the Editorial:
Since its third issue (2016), the journal Práticas da História has devoted much attention to the question of the uses and representations of the Middle Ages – what several scholars have designated as medievalism. Prolific authors in this field such as Richard Utz, David Matthews, Valentin Groebner, Andrew B. R. Elliott and Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri have used this publication to debate a host of topics related to medievalism, from the uses of the medieval past by European nationalisms to the relevance of the representations of the Middle Ages in so-called contemporary “popular culture”. However, the interest in medievalism is not merely a consequence of the thematic scope or personal preferences of the editors of this publication – in fact, it has been growing. Since its theoretical conception in the 1970s, studies on “medievalism” have raised a series of questions related not only to the problematization of the idea of the “Middle Ages”, but also to the diverse interpretations that have been made about this historical period since its conceptualization.
One of the questions that has received least attention, though recent academic works have been challenging this trend, is the relation between medievalism and colonial and post-colonial contexts. Authors such as John N. Ganim, Louise D’Arcens and Nadia Altschul have reflected on this relation, particularly regarding topics such as the proximity between medievalism and “orientalism” or the relevance of medievalism in post-colonial societies such as Australia and Latin American countries. This reflection has shown, among other aspects, the close-knit intersection between the evocation of the Middle Ages and the advance of European imperialism under the guise of allegedly ethical values, in fields where this framework sits awkwardly, such as the conquest, domination, and conversion of populations to the Christian faith. From the point of view of social sciences, the medievalist perspective has also brought important theoretical contributions: post-colonial studies were challenged on their simplistic views about the Middle Ages; “orientalism” was given a more ancient past and a more complex history; the study of the idea of race gained historical depth. Finally, in recent years, the study of the academic and cultural conception of the Middle Ages as a founding moment of the European past for nineteenth-century nations has developed in a no less interesting direction – how the colonies of these nations, and the countries born from them, also invented a medieval past, and through it refused their non-European, pre-colonial origins. Even if that past was not al-ways regarded positively – as was the case in certain Brazilian contexts –, only much more recently (and partially) did it begin to be interrogated as (another) imaginary past, allowing the integration of native peoples in the history of these countries.
Pedro Martins (IHC — NOVA FCSH) and Maria de Lurdes Rosa (IEM — NOVA FCSH)
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![Illustrative banner for the lecture “Rice: ersatz, cultural artifact, object of knowledge, unruly crop”. With Lavinia Maddaluno, from Università Ca’ Foscari , IHC Visting Scholar 2024. The poster includes a photo of Lavinia Maddaluno.](https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-07-16_Lavinia-Maddaluno_1200x500.jpg)
Detalhes do Evento
Lecture with IHC’s 2024 Visiting Scholar Lavinia Maddaluno, on the socio-economic, cultural, scientific, technological, and medical responses to the expansion of rice cultivation in northern Italy.
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Detalhes do Evento
Lecture with IHC’s 2024 Visiting Scholar Lavinia Maddaluno, on the socio-economic, cultural, scientific, technological, and medical responses to the expansion of rice cultivation in northern Italy.
Rice: ersatz, cultural artifact, object of knowledge, unruly crop
A dietary mainstay in non-European societies and a cornerstone of dishes like Northern Italian risotto, rice has diverse culinary significance. However, the timing of its introduction to Northern Italy remains unclear. Examining this event offers insights into the process of integrating new crops into both diet and cultural imagination. This talk is about the socio-economic, cultural, scientific, technological, and medical responses to the expansion of rice cultivation in northern Italy between the sixteenth and the eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries. Bringing together the history of knowledge and environmental history, in this talk I will reflect on how rice was appropriated by several actors, and on how these appropriations were intertwined with perceptions and constructions of the landscape and material environment. By interlacing narratives of rice cultivation and of the landscapes rice forms, alongside discussions of infrastructural development and knowledge systems, I will also delineate the progression of interactions between humans and their environments, as well as the evolution of water management practices, scientific advancements, medical understandings, and political-economic ideologies across different historical periods. Additionally, the talk will highlight how resources were conceptualized in the early modern period, reconnecting to contemporary debates on the Anthropocene and on the agency of non-humans.
About IHC’s 2024 Visiting Scholar:
Lavinia Maddaluno is Assistant Professor in early modern history at the Department of Humanities at Ca’ Foscari, Venice, working on David Gentilcore’s ERC project The Water Cultures of Italy 1500-1900. She is a historian of science interested in exploring the nexus between humans, nature and economy in early modern Europe. Lavinia has just completed her first monograph Science and political Economy in Enlightenment Milan (1760-1805), forthcoming with the Voltaire Foundation in autumn 2024. She is currently editing a book on rice in the Mediterranean with Rachele Scuro and a special issue on Water Knowledge with Giacomo Savani and Davide Martino. Lavinia has held multiple fellowships since the end of her PhD (Cambridge UK, 2018), from a Rome Fellowship at the British School at Rome, to a Max Weber Fellowship at the EUI and a joint Warburg/I Tatti Fellowship in the History of Science. More recently, she has been Fellow at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme and the Fondazione Einaudi, working on a new project on rice-related knowledge networks between France and Italy in the Enlightenment.
Attendance is free.
Tempo
(Terça-feira) 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Organizador
Institute of Contemporary History — NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanitiescomunicacao.ihc@fcsh.unl.pt Avenida de Berna, 26C - 1069-061 Lisbon
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Jul 11, 2024
The historian of science will be the fourth IHC Visiting Scholar
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Jul 9, 2024
Quintino Lopes visited the building that housed the former Phonetics Laboratory of the Federal University of Bahia
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