• Gendered Language and the Science of Colonial Silk

    Author(s):
    Allison Margaret Bigelow (see profile)
    Date:
    2014
    Subject(s):
    United States, 1600-1775, Science, History
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Colonial America, Gender studies, History of science
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M63V3T
    Abstract:
    This article uses pronominal resilience to suggest how we can identify women's contributions to the colonial silk industry. By comparing different editions of silkworm treatises, all of which were published between 1650-1655 and circulated within the Hartlib Circle's circum-Atlantic network of readers (Bermuda, Germany, England, Ireland, Virginia), I find a pattern in the gendered language of the texts. Books that describe worms grown by women use feminine pronouns (she/her) to classify worms throughout the lifecycle, while books that describe worms grown by men begin with masculine pronouns (he/his) and become feminine (she/her) when the worms become reproductive in the third stage of the lifecycle.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    doi: 10.1353/eal.2014.0024
    Publisher:
    Johns Hopkins University Press
    Pub. Date:
    2014-6-29
    Journal:
    Early American Literature
    Volume:
    49
    Issue:
    2
    Page Range:
    271 - 325
    ISSN:
    1534-147X
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-ShareAlike
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