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SUMMARY:Transatlantic hum: Mexican hummingbirds and the French encyclopedi
 c project - Iris Montero Sobrevilla (Department of History and Philosophy 
 of Science)
DTSTART:20080225T130000Z
DTEND:20080225T141500Z
UID:TALK9540@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Salim Al-Gailani
DESCRIPTION:In October 1790\, the Creole savant José Antonio Alzate publi
 shed a review of the Encyclopédie Méthodique in his Mexico City-based pe
 riodical Gaceta de Literatura. The Encyclopédie Méthodique according to 
 Alzate was "in\nmatters concerning New Spain full of mistakes and errors t
 hat are not tolerable". The Mexican wrote these lines after reading the ar
 ticles about hummingbirds prepared by French naturalist Mauduyt de la Vare
 nne. That the treatment of hummingbirds in an encyclopedia inspired such a
  severe verdict raises some questions. Was this the case of two traditions
  of natural\nhistorical practice clashing? Was it the case of an editor ex
 ercising his role to orient and advise his reading public? Or was it the c
 ase of a Creole defending a native species and\, with it\, vestiges of the
  Mexican Amerindian past? Through the analysis of Alzate's writings\, this
  paper attempts to explore possible motivations for his reaction against t
 he French reference work.\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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