Among birds and net(work)s: material and social practices in the trajectory of ornithologist Emilie Snethlage (1868{1929) Miriam Junghans Doctoral candidate at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz Rio de Janeiro
[email protected] Abstract: In the course of her career, German ornithologist Emilie Sneth- lage (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 prac- tices. Keywords: Women scientists, Ornithology, Scientific collections, Germany, Brazil Introduction Grallaria martinsi, Synallaxis martinsi, Picumnus limae and Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus berlepschi are birds found in the northern region of Brazil. They were collected, described, identified, and named by German HoST - History of Science and Technology 10, pp. 71{101 DOI 10.1515/host-2016-0004 72 Among birds and net(work)s. ornithologist Emilie Snethlage (1868{1929), who worked in the country be- tween 1905 and 1929. In spite of its apparent coldness, the scientific nomen- clature allows for a glimpse, in the above cases, into human interactions,