Bedford, Riiko (Author)
Krementsov, Nikolai L. (Advisor)
This dissertation examines popular conceptions of heredity in Canada between 1860-1900. I focus on three bodies of literature in which ideas about heredity were explored, discussed, and negotiated: farmers’ and breeders’ periodicals, written by and for farmers and animal breeders; medical advice manuals aimed at wives and mothers; and the publications of the prominent reform organization, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Specifically, I ask: how did these three groups understand the nature of heredity, how did this affect the ways they interacted with the world, and where did these ideas about heredity come from? In each case, I examine the particular notions of heredity they embraced, their sources, and how such notions were forged and operationalized to make sense of and order both the natural and the social worlds. I show how popular notions of heredity interacted with the interests and aspirations of the people who engaged with them. By examining the contours and sources of popular ideas about heredity, my research also helps untangle and make clear aspects of the complex circulation of scientific knowledge in late 19th century Canadian society. This dissertation demonstrate the role of these three distinct bodies of literature in the circulation of knowledge about heredity, and in the active discussion and negotiation about its broader social meanings. These media, which were themselves interconnected and mutually influential, exposed their readers to a range of sources and ways of knowing about heredity. They encouraged Canadians to think about the nature of heredity and its relevance to the health of their bodies and minds, their families, and the body politic.
...More
Article
Baker, Graham;
(2014)
Eugenics and Migration: A Case Study of Salvation Army Literature about Canada and Britain, c.1890--1921
(/isis/citation/CBB001420269/)
Article
Cristiano Turbil;
(2018)
Making Heredity Matter: Samuel Butler’s Idea of Unconscious Memory
(/isis/citation/CBB631605560/)
Book
Numbers, Ronald L.;
Stenhouse, John;
(1999)
Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender
(/isis/citation/CBB000110621/)
Thesis
Matz, Brendan A.;
(2011)
Crafting Heredity: The Art and Science of Livestock Breeding in the United States and Germany, 1860--1914
(/isis/citation/CBB001567276/)
Thesis
Rebecca Egli;
(2018)
The World of Our Dreams: Agricultural Explorers and the Promise of American Science, 1890-1945
(/isis/citation/CBB155557259/)
Book
Johan Kärnfelt;
Karl Grandin;
Solveig Jülich;
(2018)
Knowledge in Motion: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Making of Modern Society
(/isis/citation/CBB297825646/)
Article
Matthew Lavine;
Alexandra Hui;
(2019)
John Burnham’s How Superstition Won and Science Lost: Editors’ Introduction
(/isis/citation/CBB837686919/)
Article
McLaughlin-Jenkins, Erin;
(2001)
Common Knowledge: Science and the Late Victorian Working-Class Press
(/isis/citation/CBB000102231/)
Article
John Lidwell-Durnin;
(2019)
Inevitable Decay: Debates over Climate, Food Security, and Plant Heredity in Nineteenth-Century Britain
(/isis/citation/CBB118853213/)
Book
Joe Kember;
John Plunkett;
Jill A. Sullivan;
(2012)
Popular Exhibitions, Science and Showmanship, 1840-1910
(/isis/citation/CBB103152013/)
Book
Sarah Glassford;
(2017)
Mobilizing Mercy: A History of the Canadian Red Cross
(/isis/citation/CBB307941720/)
Article
Schwartz, Joel S.;
(1999)
Robert Chambers and Thomas Henry Huxley, Science Correspondents: The Popularization and Dissemination of Nineteenth Century Natural Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000111666/)
Article
McTavish, Lianne;
(2006)
Learning to See in New Brunswick, 1862--1929
(/isis/citation/CBB001030868/)
Article
Meyer, Carrie A.;
(2013)
The Farm Debut of the Gasoline Engine
(/isis/citation/CBB001320819/)
Book
Dewey, Peter E.;
(2008)
Iron Harvests of the Field: The Making of Farm Machinery in Britain since 1800
(/isis/citation/CBB001201105/)
Article
Prieto, Leida Fernández;
(2013)
Islands of Knowledge: Science and Agriculture in the History of Latin America and the Caribbean
(/isis/citation/CBB001321225/)
Article
Patricia Bowley;
(2015)
Farm Forestry in Agricultural Southern Ontario, ca. 1850-1940: Evolving Strategies in the Management and Conservation of Forests, Soils and Water on Private Lands
(/isis/citation/CBB900280294/)
Book
Russell, Peter A.;
(2012)
How Agriculture Made Canada: Farming in the Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001421803/)
Article
Loskutova, M. V.;
(2011)
Amateurs and Professionals: Science in a Russian Province from the Second Half of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001211387/)
Article
Gouglas, Sean W.;
(2001)
A Currant Affair: E. D. Smith and Agricultural Change in Nineteenth-Century Saltfleet Township, Ontario
(/isis/citation/CBB000102075/)
Be the first to comment!