Barcelona: An Urban History of Science and Modernity, 1888-1929

Oliver Hochadel author Agustí Nieto-Galan author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:26th Apr '16

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Barcelona: An Urban History of Science and Modernity, 1888-1929 cover

The four decades between the two Universal Exhibitions of 1888 and 1929 were formative in the creation of modern Barcelona. Architecture and art blossomed in the work of Antoni Gaudi­ and many others. At the same time, social unrest tore the city apart. Topics such as art nouveau and anarchism have attracted the attention of numerous historians. Yet the crucial role of science, technology and medicine in the cultural makeup of the city has been largely ignored. The ten articles of this book recover the richness and complexity of the scientific culture of end of the century Barcelona. The authors explore a broad range of topics: zoological gardens, natural history museums, amusement parks, new medical specialities, the scientific practices of anarchists and spiritists, the medical geography of the urban underworld, early mass media, domestic electricity and astronomical observatories. They pay attention to the agenda of the bourgeois elites but also to hitherto neglected actors: users of electric technologies and radio amateurs, patients in clinics and dispensaries, collectors and visitors of museums, working class audiences of public talks and female mediums. Science, technology and medicine served to exert social control but also to voice social critique. Barcelona: An urban history of science and modernity (1888-1929) shows that the city around 1900 was both a creator and facilitator of knowledge but also a space substantially transformed by the appropriation of this knowledge by its unruly citizens.

"This book is very appropriate for a study of the role of science in this period of Barcelona’s history. It is much more than a collective volume; it is an impressive academic collaborative effort. At the same time, it is generally a very accessible, easy read and very rich and diverse in the topics addressed, in the sources and approaches used, and in its analyses of Barcelona’s history. (...) This book is a major contribution to existing scholarly works in several areas: General History of Barcelona, History of Science in Barcelona and the relation between Urban Studies and History of Science. The contributions suggest a great amount of work behind them and clearly show how science was practised, taught, popularized, used and even sold in this period in Barcelona."

- Miquel Carandell Baruzzi, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona – Centre d’Historia de la Ciencia CEHIC in Metascience, 2017

"all the ten chapters share –despite the diverse historiographical traditions of the authors and the particularities of each case study - similar historical sensibilities, a high level of historiographical sophistication, and rich and innovative historical sources. This coherence of the volume is the consequence of true teamwork and academic and editorial excellence."

- Stefan Pohl Valero, Universidad del Rosario

ISBN: 9781472434197

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 521g

280 pages