WHERE WERE YOU BEFORE RECEIVING THIS AWARD?
I was teaching tutorials in a number of modules at UCD History and in the process of creating two original modules of my own (Colonial Latin America, 1492-1898 & A History of Science, Ancient Times to the Present). Developing ideas for a new project was difficult from the point of view of my work on nautical science in early modern Spain. I had been looking to expand my research interests into the natural sciences of the same period, and the project of animals on ships was a particularly interesting midway point between the nautical and natural sciences. I had not considered the intersections between these disparate ideas before the project.
YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT IN LAY TERMS
The aims of this project, were to examine the transport of animals between Spain and America from the late 15th century to the beginning of the 18th century and analyse the impact of ship travel on their health. This research was to take place in the overall context of animal medicine in the early modern period with the notion that the Spanish transatlantic ship was a unique and informative ‘lived space’ of both human and animal health. This project involved primary source research, mainly at the General Archive of the Indies in Seville Spain, as well as collating a significant body of printed primary and secondary literature on the subject of animals, animal health, and navigation, from the 1500s to the 1800s.
HOW HAS ISSF HELPED YOUR RESEARCH CAREER?
The ISSF award reoriented my research plans, which were initially focused on nautical science in the Spanish empire. Looking at animals on ships has provided me with the opportunity to examine the Spanish ship as a liminal space that incorporates both the nautical and natural sciences, which would not have been possible without the funding provided. The research enabled by the ISSF award has also allowed me to develop ideas for future projects. This proposes to examine the representation of vermin, or ‘imperfect creatures’ in the Spanish empire, which is a topic that has not been covered in any detail to date.
TANGIBLE OUTPUTS AS A RESULT OF RECEIVING THE AWARD
- Journal article: ‘The Space Between: Falcons, Navigation, and Animal Health in the Spanish Empire’, submitted to the Bulletin of the History of Medicine. ‘A Maritime Bestiary: Animals and the Spanish Maritime Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries’ (in writing)
- Book chapter:‘Living and Dying in Spanish Seas: What Animals Tell us about 17th-Century Navigation on the Carrera de Indias’ in A Cultural History of Technology, vol. 4: The Age of Expansion and Enlightenment (1650-1800), ed. Dr. Marieke Hendriksen, published by Bloomsbury (Forthcoming 2023)
- New module created at UCD History: Animal Histories, from Antiquity to the Present (HIS10460)
- Forthcoming online seminar series (initially proposed by me) with Dr. Jennifer Keating & Dr. Claas Kirchhelle of UCD School of History on Animal History/Animal Studies
- Presentation, January 2021, CHOMI: ‘Aletos for His Majesty: Raptors, Navigation, and Animal Medicine in Early Modern Spain’.
- Conference Paper, December 2019: ‘Animales Navegantes in the Spanish Golden Age’, presented at UCD Golden Age Symposium, UCD School of History
WHAT DID THE AWARD MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY?
Personally, the project has been significant to my sense of self as a researcher. It allowed me to undertake the most significant and challenging research since the end of my postdoctoral fellowship in 2015, allowing me to expand into areas that would not have been possible with my previous trajectory. It has also made me a more complete and rounded lecturer by allowing me to introduce new ideas and topics in the histories of science, medicine and animals into my classes at UCD, both in the history of science, as well as the history of the Spanish empire. I am thankful to the award committee for allowing me to pursue such a unique and interesting field of research, which I believe has determined the course of my academic path for the foreseeable future.