Science of Galicia When a girl closes her eyes

when Maria Carrero Oterohead of the Galician knot of Association of Women Researchers and TechnologyHe invited me to write this article, and suggested that I think about any of my research topics or the status of women in my field of work. Initially, I thought of writing about my lines of research into conflict and heritage, processes of participation and heritage management or instances of cognitive dissonance produced by heritage bureaucracies. I also thought about talking about anthropologistIts methodological characteristics and its importance for understanding social processes. But, above all, I wanted to use this column to discuss cases inequality Which passes through many of the women who work in it Sciences. So I decided to focus on an additional level of invisibility that we experience Women researchers and technologists: The fact of belonging to a non-dominant scientific field. I mean work in Humanities and social sciences (CHS).

Incorporate centered learning It stems This has meant making significant progress in providing a critical, innovative and creative approach to posing research problems at various educational levels. It stems They are abbreviations in English that stand for Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics). More than fifteen years ago, it was proposed to add an “A” and name it Steam to include the arts and humanities. Regardless of the debate over whether to add the letter “A” or not, I think it's important to rethink the “science” part of the abbreviation It stemsTo overcome two stereotypes: the first is the connection between science and the masculine. We've been operating on this bias for a long time. The second is the stereotype of identifying the concept of “scientific research” with research that excludes the humanities and social sciences, which, like all stereotypes, is based on ignorance on the part of the people who reproduce it.

In the epidemic Coronavirus diseaseThe importance of research in the humanities and social sciences became apparent. This is what was stated in the official statement issued in October 2020 by the regional director of… World Health Organization in Europe, Hans Henry KlugerIt was emphasized that research in these areas is necessary to be able to develop appropriate medical and political solutions. In addition, they were urged to conduct research that takes into account different local knowledge (Statement – ​​Growing COVID-19 Fatigue and the Comprehensive Regional Response (who.int). In that statement, he gave examples of European countries where innovative research projects in the social sciences and humanities have been implemented since the beginning of the pandemic. In Spain there have been initiatives, but not in a programmatic way on the part of institutions. For this reason, a statement was issued by the main social science associations in Spain. At the initiative of the Spanish State Anthropological Association (Asaee), a joint statement was issued between Asaee, the Spanish Federation of Sociology (FES), the Spanish Association of Political Science and Administration (Aecpa), and the Spanish Geography Association (AGE) He drew attention to the need to integrate Social sciences In the investigation and management of the epidemic (Statement: Social Sciences, Management and Research of COVID-19 – Asaee Antropologia (asaee-antropologia.org)). “We need to listen to the situated knowledge that social sciences have learned to integrate with social movements and vulnerable communities,” the statement concluded. The pandemic is changing our society. Biomedical research helps save lives. “Social research keeps our hopes and our will alive.”

The approaches to the basic human standard are necessary, among other things, to know what kind of society we have and what kind of society we want to have in the future. In short, keep our hopes and our will alive. What do I want for this imagined future? That when a girl closes her eyes and is asked to imagine a scientist, she can have a variety of images. Of course, I do not exclude the dominant image of the woman in a white coat and laboratory equipment, but also many other images:

– A woman carrying a shovel and doing archaeological excavations.

– A woman carrying a recording device conducts an interview with a factory manager.

-A woman observing the participants in the school.

-A woman reads manuscripts in the rare books section of the National Library.

– A woman holds a computer to analyze survey results.

-A woman conducting a focus group for a study on climate change.

Even the dominant vision of the white coat and laboratory departments becomes more complicated if we add the vision from the CHS, because there is also a lot of work of this kind in our areas. For example, in the institute where I work, CSIC Heritage Science Institute (Incipit-CSIC), there are women in white coats analyzing pollen and wood to find out what life was like in prehistoric times; Women wearing white coats carry out restoration and analysis of materials; Others do pyrolysis and can analyze the use of fire thousands of years ago. There are many of us and we work through many approaches.

I hope that researchers in the fields Humanities and social sciences Not only do we have to keep defending the importance of what we do compared to other fields, but rather the research defends itself on an equal footing.