Project description
Discovering the sweet manufacturing activities of women in Barcelona’s past
An immense volume of historical literature has been based on the impact of Spanish colonial trade between 1650 and 1800, a crucial period of globalisation and popularisation of sugar consumption. As such, the manufacturing and consumption of sweets is an important related topic of investigation. Also important is the gender aspect given the special role women had in the popularisation of sweet consumption customs. However, little research has focused on the role of women in this development. The EU-funded SWEET project will explore women’s economic, social and intellectual contribution to the manufacturing of sweets in the city of Barcelona. The research will be based on sources that are rich in information and relatively unexplored until now. These include written texts and visual and material artefacts comprising an important part of local cultural heritage.
Objective
Held assumptions about an inherent female sweet tooth are long-standing, shaping beliefs, attitudes and eating habits from the early modern era to the present day. This research project investigates the process of feminization of sweet taste as well as feminine subjectivities in the making and eating sweets in Barcelona between 1650 and 1800, a crucial period of globalization and popularization of sugar consumption. By addressing the connection between sweets and female nature, this study aims to examine how cultural meanings of sweet food emerged and evolved in the period when sugar was becoming a mass-consumption commodity in Europe. Firstly, this study explores how the changing culinary tastes and the diffusion of new medical knowledge affected the ways of thinking about ‘sweet food’ as well as the social and economic aspects of the sugar trade. Secondly, it examines the agency of women in the manufacture of sweets in private and public spheres, challenging the guild of confectioners in the city. Finally, it looks at refrescos as specific patterns of consumption of sweets and sociability in which women played a crucial role as civilizing agents in the Spanish Enlightenment. This study is based on a large set of underexplored textual, visual and material sources, making use of the rich cultural heritage preserved in Barcelona. By examining the social, intellectual and economic agency of women, this research seeks to move beyond historiographical narratives dominated by men as central actors in the global history of sugar. This research will change the main focus of the recent scholarly away from the courtly circles and Atlantic colonial trade to a Mediterranean and non-courtly urban contexts, which is underrepresented in the field of the substantial historiography on sugar. Overall, it will provide an original reading of the Spanish Enlightenment and further their incorporation into the current debates on the Global Enlightenment.
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.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- social sciences other social sciences development studies development theories global development studies globalization
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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.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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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) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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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.
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom
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.