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Decentering Plant Health: Women, Agriculture, and Viruses under Portugal’s Estado Novo Dictatorship

Descrizione del progetto

Donne e virologia vegetale in Portogallo

La storia della ricerca sui virus ha per lo più trascurato il lavoro scientifico svolto in contesti periferici e in ambiti applicativi come l’agricoltura. Il progetto INTERLEAVING, sostenuto dal programma di azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, si propone di risolvere questa lacuna. Il progetto riporta al centro dell’attenzione la virologia vegetale nel Portogallo della metà del XX secolo sotto il regime dell’Estado Novo, concentrandosi su tre donne scienziate all’avanguardia: Mathilde Bensaúde, Maria Lourdes Oliveira e Maria Lourdes Borges. Esse hanno contribuito al progresso della protezione delle colture, dell’identificazione degli agenti patogeni e della ricerca di laboratorio, pur dovendo affrontare ostacoli istituzionali e di genere. Il progetto esamina come le tecniche siano state adattate alle esigenze agricole locali e come sia stata costituita l’autorità scientifica in un contesto politico vincolato. In generale, questo progetto amplia la storia della virologia e mette in evidenza i contributi scientifici delle donne.

Obiettivo

The history of virus research is often told from the perspective of elite biomedical laboratories in Northwestern Europe and North America. This project shifts attention instead to Portugal – a scientific periphery governed during the mid-twentieth century by the authoritarian Estado Novo regime (1933–1974) – and to agricultural science, a field frequently neglected by historians. It also foregrounds the crucial contributions of women to plant virus study and control, thereby addressing several key gaps in the historiography of the life sciences.
The study focuses on three Portuguese women agricultural scientists – Mathilde Bensaúde (1890–1969), Maria Lourdes Oliveira (1904–1980), and Maria Lourdes Borges (1916–2014) – whose careers spanned much of the century. Trained in leading laboratories abroad, they brought international expertise to Portugal, advancing pathogen identification, laboratory experimentation, crop protection, and plant health certification systems. As awareness of viruses as critical crop pathogens grew, these scientists secured equipment, sought professional recognition, and built local expertise in plant health at a time when women in senior posts were rare, and research was inseparable from the regime’s political priorities.
Drawing on archival research, material culture, and the study of scientific spaces, the project reconstructs how they adapted international techniques to local agricultural needs while navigating institutional barriers to women. This approach illuminates knowledge production outside traditional scientific centres, showing how context, agricultural priorities, and social norms shaped experimental work and authority in virus research. By tracing their careers and contributions, the project shows how these women’s innovations in plant virus research and crop protection continue to influence agricultural practices and policy, underscoring the relevance of historical analysis for current and future challenges in plant health.

Campo scientifico (EuroSciVoc)

Parole chiave

Programma(i)

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Meccanismo di finanziamento

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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(si apre in una nuova finestra) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF

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Coordinatore

FCIENCIAS.ID - ASSOCIACAO PARA A INVESTIGACAO E DESENVOLVIMENTO DE CIENCIAS
Contributo netto dell'UE
€ 207 183,12
Costo totale
Nessun dato