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Biomaterial Matters

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A tidbit from a new project I'm working (slowly) on... The history of surgical silk sutures in Japan points to a fresh approach toward the history of animals. By focusing on proteinaceous fibers as the stuff of life subject to scientific analysis, a history of biological materiality begins to take shape.... Caption: Chirurgisch geflochtene Seidenfäden, die aus Japan importiert wurden, ursprünglich weiß, schwarz gefärbt und gewachst. Surgically braided silk threads imported from Japan, originally white, dyed black and waxed. © Foto: 2017 Biomaterial Matters/Lisa Onaga https://www.mpg.de/13567267/mpiwg-berlin_jb_2018?c=12090594&force_lang=de ****English link in bio.***
Museo della seta di Como photo series... Cocoons of Antheraea mylitta. This is a Saturniid moth species from India, one among several that spin "Tussar silk." Its caterpillar - a jolly green critter - feeds on the leaves of Terminalia and other trees. However, despite the fact that the silk is appreciated by consumers and is a critical means of socioeconomic support for tribal communities in India, many variants of the species face existential threat from habitat loss owing to deforestation and industrialization, and over-harvesting of cocoons. The conservation of the species and support of forest-based cottage industries seems crucial for Tusar silk to remain a lively technology -- not just one enclosed behind the glass of a museum vitrine. Additional reading: N K Bhatia, “Tropical Tasar - Utilization And Conservation Of Natural Resource For Tribal Development,” The Bioscan (special issues): An international quarterly journal of the life sciences 1 (2010): 187–98 (Paper presented in International Conference on Environment, Energy and Development (from Stockholm to Copenhagen and beyond) December 10 - 12, 2010, Sambalpur University) #tussarsilk #silk #sericulture #forest #India #tribal #ecosystem #sustainability #moth #lepidoptera #silkworm #cocooning #cocoon
Museo della Seta di Como photo series continued! This granite-based balance from 1866 has a weighing capacity of 250kg-worth of silk bales (about 551 lbs). The lettering of the woven bale on the scale seems to indicate that its silk skeins once came from China. Silk bundles are measured by weight, but hanks are measured by length. Weight was a major determinant of the exchanged value of raw silk shipments. #rawsilk #silk #weightsandmeasures #scale #sericulture #onebeltoneroad #silkroad #italy #china #museum #seta #como
In homage to the Lombardy region of Italy, my next few posts will be about sericultural tools from the Museo Didattico della Seta. Italy has had a rich sericultural tradition, and it was also a node for the silkworm egg and raw silk trade. When the pébrine blight of the mid-19th century hit, the Japanese began to export raw silk eggs to Europe via Milan. After this trade waned with the recovery of European silkworm stocks, the export focus switched to raw silk. While visiting this museum in Como, I was intrigued by this encounter with a collage of 商標 (chops) once bundled with skeins of raw silk exported from Japan. They are artistic and unique marketing devices that were intended to grab the attention of buyers, much like the way we might be drawn in to buy a wool skein in a knitting store today (of course, the buyers of the late nineteenth /early twentieth century were largely factory operators). For more on how the decimation of silkworm diseases ended, here's my full story in Scholar & Feminist: http://sfonline.barnard.edu/life-un-ltd-feminism-bioscience-race/bombyx-and-bugs-in-meiji-japan-toward-a-multispecies-history/ #silk #sericulture #seta #養蚕　#蚕 #silkworms #history #museo #italia #japan #日本 #科学史　#生糸貿易　#silktrade
I remember paging through an old copy of Wired Nov 2016, (guest ed. B Obama) and being impressed by this story on then-student Olivia Hallisey who developed a cheap Ebola test kit that required no refrigeration: it used silk-stabilized chemicals to protect the antibodies. What a remarkable insight made by learning about the insulating properties of silkworm cocoons! Young people have great ideas, and "old" technologies still inspire us everyday. #biomaterialmatters #silk #蚕 #繭 #シルク #ebola #testkits #biologicaltechnology #infectiousdisease #sericulture #silkworms
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