Gendered Language and the Science of Colonial Silk

Abstract

This article uses pronominal resilience to suggest how we can identify women's contributions to the colonial silk industry. By comparing different editions of silkworm treatises, all of which were published between 1650-1655 and circulated within the Hartlib Circle's circum-Atlantic network of readers (Bermuda, Germany, England, Ireland, Virginia), I find a pattern in the gendered language of the texts. Books that describe worms grown by women use feminine pronouns (she/her) to classify worms throughout the lifecycle, while books that describe worms grown by men begin with masculine pronouns (he/his) and become feminine (she/her) when the worms become reproductive in the third stage of the lifecycle.

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