Among Birds and Net(Work)S: Material and Social Practices in the Trajectory of Ornithologist Emilie Snethlage (1868–1929)

Abstract

In the course of her career, German ornithologist Emilie Snethlage (1868-1929), who worked in Brazil in the early twentieth century, was involved in all the steps that characterize the “production” of a specimen for scientific collection: from fieldwork, with the collection and preparation of materials, to their description and publication of results. Each of these stages mobilizes different material practices and sociability networks. During fieldwork or in her museum activities, the fact of being a woman demanded from Snethlage specific strategies for establishing her scientific legitimacy, analyzed in this article, especially her activities related to collecting practices.