Paola Altomonte
A wave into the field: on the role of 20th century feminist women engaged in biological research
Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University
Supervisors: Dr. Simone Schleper, Raf De Bont, Brigitte Le Normand
Background
I studied Philosophy (BA and MA) at the University of Bologna and History and Philosophy of Science (MSc) at Utrecht University. I’m mostly interested in understanding the history and philosophy of science from a gender and decolonial perspective. In the past, I have researched the (Italian) history of anatomy and anatomical collections, androcentrism in the history of medicine and the ethics of responsible innovation practices in the context of environmental crises.
Content
Between the 1960s and the 1980s, an unprecedented number of women researchers began entering the discipline of biology. Simultaneously, in large parts of the so-called global North, second-wave feminists started questioning gender role expectations and assumptions about sexuality and gender. Through archival research, historical document analysis, and oral history, I investigate 1) how women researchers’ alignment with feminism influenced their theoretical and practical work across different branches of biology; and 2) how their knowledge of biology shaped their perceptions of themselves as women in academia and society. Furthermore, considering that many of these women conducted fieldwork as expats in (former) colonies, I examine how early feminist biologists understood their role as researchers in these contexts.
