My project focuses on the role of women and gender in economic agriculture, a broadly defined science that encompassed agricultural knowledge, botany, chemistry, healing practices, domestic economy, artisan skills, and rural architecture. My aim is to explore in which ways women shaped its practice, values, and public image. In particular, I will explore books on economic agriculture and the architecture of some aristocratic country houses.

Many scholars have reconstructed scientific practices in specific settings, from salons to the luxury Paris market. In the case of Madrid, public buildings such as the Hospital General or San Fernando manufacture have been studied. However, the hybrid aristocratic country-houses, half way between the public and the private, have not been studied as sites of Enlightenment science in Spain. In tune with Madrid architectural changes, fashionable houses were built at the capital's outskirts that also aimed to meet Enlightenment ends of social utility. One of these was El Capricho (The Whim) owned by the Duquesa de Osuna (1750-1834), the director of an outstanding female economic society, the Junta de damas. Along with grottos and Goya’s frescos, she built an elegant glass beehive and promoted agricultural experiments.

I would like to explore the relations between the physical distribution of spaces, gender, economic ideas, and agricultural practices. Recent contributions analyze how ideas about feminine nature influenced women’s actions in the Spanish public sphere. By setting my research against this background, I would like to explore how gender categories work to define scientific ideas and female social practices.