Project description
Touch and taste in historic Mediterranean
Historically, taste and touch have been associated with femininity and subjectivity, reinforcing stereotypes and marginalising Mediterranean perspectives. Sight and the observational methods of 17th-century Northern European men are often regarded as defining features of modern science. The ERC-funded PROXISENSES project will challenge the notion that only specific forms of experimentation and practitioners shaped our understanding of the natural world. It will investigate the role of proximal senses before the Scientific Revolution (1350–1650), exploring how manual workers contributed to knowledge of plants, minerals, and animals and how cross-cultural encounters in the Mediterranean influenced sensory understanding. The project will conduct three sub-projects focused on touch and taste, using three food items – salt, grapes, and fish – to represent minerals, plants, and animals, respectively.
Objective
The proximal senses—taste and touch—were linked historically to the body, femininity, and subjectivity. This both fed adverse socio-cultural, religious, and gender stereotypes and allowed the voices of women, subaltern subjects, and Mediterranean people to be dismissed as irrelevant to knowledge-making. It also influenced modern scholarship, which has given undue weight to sight and the observation practices of seventeenth-century Northern European men as signals of the advent of modern science.
PROXISENSES challenges this narrative, arguing that other forms, eras, and practitioners of experimental practices also contributed much to the production of knowledge about the natural world. Building on histories of the senses, food, knowledge, and the Mediterranean, it breaks new ground with three key questions, each tied to a research objective (RO). RO1 Practices: What was the epistemic value of the proximal senses before the alleged Scientific Revolution (i.e. 1350–1650)? RO2 People: To what extent did manual workers (e.g. fruit sellers, farmers, fishmongers, miners, winemakers) contribute to a better understanding of plants, minerals, and animals? RO3 Knowledge: What impact did a millennium of cross-cultural encounters in the Mediterranean have on the construction of sensory knowledge?
To address these issues, PROXISENSES uses three food subprojects to investigate touch and taste across the Mediterranean. Each food represents a main category used to classify the natural world: salt (minerals), grapes (plants), and fish (animals). Explored through diverse, scattered primary sources using digital and archival methodologies, the subprojects offer both transversal joint food histories and detailed microhistories. By unearthing previously invisible knowledge-makers, PROXISENSES contributes to the urgent need to decolonise histories of science by offering a transformative vision of the genesis of empirical practices that are central to our view of natural sciences today.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-COG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
4000 LIEGE
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.