Soap production in the 18th century: a study of Nicolas Leblanc's contributions and his historical context

• Grant number: 18/07209-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 02, 2018
• End date: August 01, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Science
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Massi
• Grantee: Andriel Rodrigo Colturato
• Supervisor: Isabel Maria Coelho de Oliveira Malaquias
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade de Aveiro (UA), Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/01540-0 - Reconstructing the history of soap production from a Marxist perspective: popular and scientific knowledge in historical critical pedagogy, BP.IC

Abstract

The main purpose of the current research developed in Brazil is to produce a historical survey and reconstruct the history of soap production considering the popular and scientific knowledge, adopting a Marxist and externalist perspective. To this end, we have searched databases specialized in the history of science. We obtained a total of six works, whose historical elaborations are simplistic, based on dates, facts and in an encyclopaedic format, all characteristics now overcome in the area of History of Science. We point that the history of soap is little studied and presented in a synthetic and diffuse form, so we chose to study especially the scientist Nicolas Leblanc. We also find that there is a need to look for historiographic methods that establish the scientific criteria for historians of science. In this sense, we chose to prepare the proposal for the Overseas Research Scholarship, at the University of Aveiro, under Professor Isabel Malaquias supervision, a specialist in the field. In this place, it would be possible to extend the methodologies and historical sources, since we would be able to visit the historical sections of the libraries of the institution. The University of Aveiro also has access to a large set of journals not available in our original research, which can be accessed through databases, and to specific History of Technology catalog, such as "B-on" and "Gray Literature". In this way, the undergraduate research student will have access to the data previously not accessible to carry out a more thorough investigation and methodologically coherent, besides acquiring qualities abroad that contributes to the articulation with the most recent researches in the history of science and for his own education. (AU)