Cultivating Nature

by Sarah R. Hamilton

2018 · University of Washington Press

Winner of the 2019 Turku Book Award from the European Society for Environmental History The Albufera Natural Park, an area ten kilometers south of Valencia that is widely regarded as the birthplace of paella, has long been prized by residents and visitors alike. Since the twentieth century, the disparate visions of city dwellers, farmers, fishermen, scientists, politicians, and tourists have made this working landscape a site of ongoing conflict over environmental conservation in Europe, the future of Spain, and Valencian identity. In Cultivating Nature, Sarah Hamilton explores the Albufera’s contested lands and waters, which have supported and been transformed by human activity for a millennium, in order to understand regional, national, and global social histories. She argues that efforts to preserve biological and cultural diversity must incorporate the interests of those who live within heavily modified and long-exploited ecosystems such as the Albufera de Valencia. Shifting between local struggles and global debates, this fascinating environmental history reveals how Franco’s dictatorship, Spain’s integration with Europe, and the crisis in European agriculture have shaped the Albufera, its users, and its inhabitants.

The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe

by David R. Ragge, W. J. Reynolds

2023 · BRILL

Most of the 170 species of grasshoppers and crickets included in this book can be identified instantly by their songs – and often more reliably than from their appearance. Orthopterans have recently become important subjects in evolutionary biological studies and are also increasingly used in the field of conservation as indicators of undisturbed habitat. The book comprises the following chapters: Introduction; Acoustic Methods; Sound Production and Reception of European Orthoptera; The Nature and Function of the Songs; The Value of the Songs in Taxonomy and Identification; Key to the singing Orthoptera of Western Europe, based primarily on their Songs; and other Animal Sounds that could be confused with Orthoptera Songs – illustrated with over 1600 oscillograms; three Appendixes (Check-list of the species included; Summary of Nomenclatural Changes; Data for the Song Recordings); Glossary; References; Index to Vernacular Names; and General Index.

El exilio científico republicano en Argentina.

by DÍAZ-R. LABAJO, M.ª Aránzazu

2016 · Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca

El trabajo reconstruye las trayectorias vitales y laborales de los médicos españoles y profesionales de las ciencias afines que se trasladaron a Argentina con motivo de la guerra civil española y el proceso represor del régimen franquista. Partiendo del estudio de la Edad de Plata de la cultura y la ciencia españolas, concretamente la ciencia médica, las experiencias vitales y laborales de los exiliados se insertan en un contexto científico y sociopolítico muy particular, como es el argentino. A partir de aquí, se analiza cómo la guerra civil se convirtió en un punto de ruptura en las trayectorias de los médicos exiliados y cómo se recompusieron en la sociedad de acogida y su imbricación en la ciencia argentina. Se abarcan los diferentes ámbitos profesionales de la medicina exiliada, universidades, hospitales, asociacionismo, etc., a lo largo y ancho de la geografía argentina. Se estudia, además, la participación de este exilio científico en el exilio político y cultural. El trabajo se ha realizado desde la órbita de la historia de las migraciones, donde destaca la aplicación del concepto de redes (redes científicas, institucionaes, sociales y familiares) a los procesos de exilio; y la historia de la ciencia, utilizando el concepto de generación y la metodología de la biografía individual y de la biografía colectiva (prosopografía).