Interdisciplinarity – a testimony by Ana Leonor Pereira, and a reflective text by João Rui Pita

In view of the recent retirement of the co-coordinator of Group 3 – History and Sociology of Science and Technology, Ana Leonor Pereira, we present her autobiographical testimony, accompanied by a reflective text by João Rui Pita (co-coordinator of Group 3) on the researcher’s scientific career, focusing on her relevant role for CEIS20 from an interdisciplinary perspective.

TESTIMONY by Ana Leonor Pereira

“At first, it’s unfamiliar, then it strikes root.”, Fernando Pessoa

Our interdisciplinary experience has always been very positive (also in terms of subjective effects), and this has continued over the last 25 years as part of the History and Sociology of Science and Technology group at CEIS20. A positive experience of the imperfections and unexpectedness of a learning process, in both a local and an international context. In the last decades of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st century, the culture of science, related to the history of science, internalist history, institutional history, economic and social history of science and others, philosophy of science, science communication, etc., has been highly valued both locally and globally. This recognition was in line with our main research interests and, thanks to a fortunate combination of factors and circumstances, we were able to realise an interesting intellectual adventure (there are many!). To make a long story short, I had the opportunity to read Charles Darwin after having read Karl Marx. In their own way, these two brilliant scientists of the second half of the 19th century practised interdisciplinarity. The interdisciplinary paths they followed were obviously open and the result, beyond their distinctive works, was a systemic creativity that continues to bear fruit on many disciplinary and interdisciplinary fronts. Marx and Darwin were contemporaries of many other protagonists in different scientific fields, such as the brilliant Pasteur, who was also a multidisciplinary thinker, an incomparable source of inspiration and innovation, who led Pasteur and Koch (France and Germany) on the path of many scientific advances with an impact on the health of plant, animal and human populations, towards today's "global health".

According to epistemology, there is no recipe for an interdisciplinary logic that provides the ideal conditions for creativity to become substantial. We do know, however, that interdisciplinarity is practised as a contextual and textual strategy conducive to scientific and technological innovation in specific cases around the world. Of course, all interdisciplinarity requires methodological skills that we recognise in the course of a particular investigation, whether or not we have theoretical training in interdisciplinary strategies. We have to be willing to step out of our comfort zone, which is linked to the path we have travelled in previous stages at twenty or more years of age, depending on the journey of each researcher and their respective contexts, individual, institutional or otherwise.

Interdisciplinarity as a regular practice in scientific work, linked to the construction of memory, to the historiographical narrative of scientific culture, as in our case, cannot be reduced to images or metaphors, however complex their semantic load. Nevertheless, I've come to realise that interdisciplinarity is like Fernando Pessoa's advertising slogan for Coca-Cola, which everyone knows: “At first, it’s unfamiliar, then it strikes root”! It's a path that is made by walking with the intellectual and emotional resources at hand. In the words of a great Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, "se haceino al andar".

Along the way, we left a bibliographical trail: collective works coordinated in collaboration with João Rui Pita, Egas Moniz em livre exame (2000); Miguel Bombarda e as singularidades de uma época (2006); Rotas da Natureza. Cientistas, viagens, expedições e instituições (2006). The collective work Darwin, Evolution, Evolutionisms (2011) with João Rui Pita and Pedro Fonseca. Following the Darwinian and Darwinist commemorations in 2009, we also published two chapters in the international work coordinated by Thomas E. Glick and Elinor Shaffer, The literary and cultural reception of Charles Darwin in Europe (2014). On another of our interdisciplinary fronts, in 2023 we published the thirteenth volume of História Interdisciplinar da Loucura, Psiquiatria e Saúde mental – XIII and the fifth volume of Mulheres e Loucura que também é interdisciplinar e internacional.

Ana Leonor Pereira, researcher: short biography by João Rui Pita

The year 1997 marks the establishment of CEIS20 and the beginning of its first six steps as an institution. In 1998, after a complex process of applying to the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT for funding for new centres, CEIS20 was rated “Very Good” and began to receive funding from FCT. Both Professor Ana Leonor Pereira and I participated in the founding of CEIS20 at the invitation of Professor Luís Reis Torgal. Some time later, Professor Ana Leonor Pereira also joined the Board of CEIS20 when it was rated “Very Good”. It was a very interesting and important challenge, not only because we were involved in the founding of CEIS20, but also because we founded the History and Sociology of Science and Technology, which later became the History and Sociology of Science and Technology Group – GHSCT. The challenges that arose went beyond setting up a research group and leading this process. We needed projects, preferably funded ones. But projects only come about if resources are organised beforehand, in this case by the GHSCT. Together with Professor Ana Leonor Pereira, we started a truly interdisciplinary project, highly regarded and recognised both nationally and internationally, which was nothing more than the institutional translation and adaptation of what we had been doing together for many years - a perfect understanding, both at a personal level, which had been going on for many years, and at a scientific and institutional level. I would like to remind you of two important publications: the long article of more than 120 pages, published in the journal Revista de História das Ideias, entitled “Liturgia higienista no século XIX — pistas para um estudo” (Hygienist Liturgy in the 19th Century – leads for a study) which was a real research programme for several years. Also very important was our chapter entitled "Sciences" in the fifth volume of the History of Portugal, edited by José Mattoso and coordinated by L. Reis Torgal and J. Lourenço Roque. Both texts date from 1993.

In the early years of the GHSCT, we were the only two PhDs, one from the Faculty of Pharmacy and the other from the Faculty of Letters. The GHSCT gradually increased its coherence, both in terms of human resources and research, in short but solid steps, and the results began to appear. We soon received funding for a scientific-editorial project from the Estarreja Town Council / Egas Moniz Museum House, which allowed us to open a scientific project and then a series dedicated to Egas Moniz. Between 1998 and 2002, several publications were produced, the most notable being the remarkable collective work coordinated by Ana Leonor Pereira and João Rui Pita, Egas Moniz em livre exame (2000). We were thrilled that this work opened up new frontiers of research on Egas Moniz, including at CEIS20 with a doctoral thesis. In 1998, we applied for an important and innovative project: we needed to know what had been written in Portugal about the history of medicine and pharmacy and other areas of the health sciences. This is how the project “Repertório Bibliográfico da Historiografia Sanitária Portuguesa (séc. XVIII-XX) — Problemáticas e Fontes Especializadas / SANISTÓRIA (PRAXIS/P/HAR/13114/ 1998) (bibliographic records of the Historiography of Portuguese Healthcare – 18th-19th centuries – problems and specialised sources) came to fruition, funded by FCT. It was a pioneering application for the recently established CEIS20 and was completed as planned. This project resulted in several communications and publications. We then had two projects awarded under the Gulbenkian Research Stimulus Programme, one in 1999 and the other in 2000, namely “O fármaco do século XX: a penicilina. A introdução da penicilina e dos antibióticos em Portugal” e “Pasteur em Portugal. A introdução das doutrinas de Pasteur e da mentalidade etiopatológica em Portugal” (The Drug of the 20th Century: Penicillin. The Introduction of Penicillin and Antibiotics in Portugal and Pasteur in Portugal. The introduction of Pasteur's doctrines and the etiopathological mentality in Portugal). These projects awarded prizes for two young researchers in their early careers. A few years later, we had another FCT-funded project, “Público e Privado: História Ecológico-Institucional do Corpo (1900-1950)” (POCTI/HAR/49941/2002) (Public and Private: Ecological-Institutional History of the Body – 1900-1950), which started in 2004. All these projects have been essential in establishing our research group, bringing in two new fellows and opening up new research approaches in the history of medicine and pharmacy. Professor Ana Leonor Pereira played a fundamental, even decisive role from the outset, as the person in charge and co-responsible for the organisation of the projects, their scientific design, the research and the publication of the results, where interdisciplinarity was the model we maintained from the outset and which we believe we have achieved.

Since then, there have been many activities in which we have participated and in which the proactive role of Professor Doutora Ana Leonor Pereira has always been key. In 2003, for example, we organised the International Colloquium “Rotas da Natureza. Cientistas, Viagens, Expedições e Instituições” (Nature’s Routes. Scientists, Travels, Expeditions and Institutions), to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Red de Intercambios para la Historia y la Epistemologia de las Ciencias Quimicas y Biologicas / RIHECQB. This international colloquium resulted in the publication of the book Rotas da Natureza. Cientistas, viagens, expedições e instituições (2006).

I would also like to highlight the various projects in which we have participated from the University of Salamanca, promoted by Juan António Rodríguez Sanchez, and in which many other institutions have participated and continue to participate. We should also remember the participation of Professor Ana Leonor Pereira in the scientific and editorial project coordinated by Thomas E. Glick and Elinor Shaffer, “The literary and cultural reception of Charles Darwin in Europe” (2014), a highly disciplinary project that, through Ana Leonor Pereira and one of our students, has carried the name of our group and research centre across borders. The same was the case with the publication of the book Darwin, Evolution, Evolutionisms (2011). The subject of the reception of Darwin and Darwinism in Portugal is another example of a topic that Ana Leonor Pereira had been researching before the GHSCT was founded, and which was the subject of her brilliant two-volume doctoral thesis entitled “Darwin em Portugal (1865-1914). Filosofia. História. Engenharia Social” (Darwin in Portugal (1865-1914). Philosophy. History. Social engineering)). In 2009, as part of the Darwin commemorations, the “International Meeting Darwin, Darwinisms and evolution (1859-2009)” directed by Professor Doutora Ana Leonor, was one of a series of initiatives on the subject, followed by several publications.

The history of madness, psychiatry and mental health is another important line of work in our research group, which now has quite a number of collaborators. Professor Ana Leonor Pereira's work in this area, as with the reception of Darwin in Portugal, was initially developed before the creation of CEIS20. Since the institutionalisation of the GHSCT, this line of research has been a distinguishing feature of our group, and the role of Professor Ana Leonor Pereira has been decisive. Since 2010, we have organised a congress on the subject: in 2024, we will host the 15th International Congress on the History of Madness, Psychiatry and Mental Health and the 7th International Symposium Women and Madness, an international and interdisciplinary annual event that brings together more than two hundred participants. These initiatives have involved some of the world's leading experts in the field. In the same vein, Professor Ana Leonor Pereira is committed to coordinating the collective works she has published each year. We are referring to the Interdisciplinary History of Madness, Psychiatry and Mental Health, the thirteenth volume of which was published in 2023, and the sixth volume of the work Mulheres e Loucura, which was published in 2023. Further volumes are in the pipeline. These publications show the vitality of these initiatives, in which Professor Ana Leonor Pereira's role as coordinator is absolutely crucial.

We should also mention, among others, the 1st International Congress on Contemporary Humanistic-Scientific Culture "Miguel Bombarda e as singularidades de uma época" (2002), which we believe was the first interdisciplinary congress held by CEIS20 and which Professor Ana Leonor Pereira organised, with more than 200 registrations and which resulted in the book Miguel Bombarda e as singularidades de uma época (2006).

There is so much more I could mention at the institutional level and about Ana Leonor Pereira's proactive role in organising scientific events, promotional activities, and countless publications. This is the case, among others, of the ten cycles of conferences on medicine, culture and society, the five cycles of conferences on science, art and history, the twenty-seven international colloquia on topics related to scientific culture, the various initiatives integrated into the Science and Technology Week, her participation in scientific exhibitions, etc.

Ana Leonor Pereira has supervised a significant number of doctoral theses (12 completed) in a much specialised field, many of them with grants from the FCT and other institutions, and has others in progress. She has also supervised several Master's theses and post-doctoral work. She has supervised Portuguese and foreign students. Professor Ana Leonor Pereira and I have built a network of important international relationships in countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, England, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, among others, which is reflected in our academic work. She has also played a crucial role in the PhD programme in Contemporary Studies. Together, we established the curriculum guidelines for the Sciences, Health and Society course unit, creating a coherent teaching approach in conjunction with our research group model, in line with the interdisciplinary guidelines of CEIS20.

I would like to point out that Professor Ana Leonor Pereira has played a major role in the construction of the CEIS20 and essential in the creation of the GHSCT, leaving behind a very interesting scientific school and students. The work in progress and the scientific and institutional objectives that we have set ourselves allow us to reflect and act on what remains to be established and achieved, and which can be seen as a bright future, supported by the solid personal and institutional historical path that has been sown and is being planned.

João Rui Pita

February 2024