This article is a personal reflection about the context and determining aspects that have caused the exclusion of women from the scientific sphere, from the viewpoint of cultural history.

The traditional exclusion of women from the public sphere, from education, politics, art and culture, as well as women's confinement to the domestic realm, have –little by little– undergone steady

Many festivals held in Italy feature ceremonial bread as an offering. The presence of votive breads, sometimes made in human form, is widespread in several regions. In Sicily one can still encounter a wide range of ceremonial breads, in particular during the festivities celebrating Saint Joseph and Easter. These «special» breads are also given as offerings during many other festivals and celebrations of special relevance to particular communities. Given their shape and ritual use, anthropomorphic breads are of particular interest, which are ex-votives proffered to restore order in the body and the cosmos.

Food plays a major role in the traditional calendar, and many festivals are inextricably linked to food-related customs. The culinary heritage of the Piedmont region of Italy is currently subject to reassessment and reinterpretation, at the service of creative logic, which is proposing to overcome the economic crisis by recovering traditional savoir faire. There are movements within this school of thought, like Slow Food and initiatives such as those taken by the University of Gastronomic Sciences, which has made a survey on the role of food in festivals.

This article deals with festivities linked to rites of passage, which serve to sanction changes in social status based on age and gender. Therefore, it looks at rituals related to the life cycle, such as baptism, first communion, marriage or death, symbolic actions intertwined with a thoroughly culture-defined biological cycle and occurring in unequivocally festive contexts.

Immersed in modernity the festival has become a reflexive celebration of identity, a gateway to transcend everyday life. It is a special time to regain consciousness in front of

Els dos modes bàsics d’elaboració de calendaris, el de dies assenyalats i el de cicles estacionals o mensuals, els mostren com una sèrie de codificacions que revelen una concepció qualitativa del temps, i ambdós són formes institucionalitzades.

© Antonio Ariño I seem to recall my first memories of the Muixeranga1 were set in the street Molí de la Vila, just where

Like any social institution, festivals are universal: a society without a festive ritual of its own is unknown. But what is a festival? Beyond any normative definition, we can state

  To trace the evolutionary origins of festive celebrations as specific forms of ritualistic interactions, we will pinpoint the repertoire of festive activities (playing, singing, dancing, music making

© Vicenç M. RossellóCala d'Or (Mallorca). The wave of tourism-driven urban development that hit the Balearic Islands from the mid-twentieth century on has greatly

A la literatura balear, la cala no ha centrat el protagonisme de la poesia, tot i la seua predominança en el paisatge de les Illes, però sí que hi té una presència selecta.

Caves are an essential part of thee Mediterranean coast and they have a close relationship with coves. The article explores Mallorca's caves and coves.

Joan J. Fornós Miocene carbonate cliffs in the Balearic Islands are the fundamental meeting point of karst and coves. Coves are complex littoral geoforms, worked

Photograph: Joan Torres. Arxiu Gran Enciclopedia de la Pintura i l'Escultura a les Balears The Belgian painter William Degouve de Nuncques painted part of the Mallorcan coastline. Above, how he saw

In the strict sense, coves are defined by their calcareous component. In our country this requirement is met only by the coves in southern Menorca and Sa Marina in Mallorca.

© Col·lecció Aena d'Art Contemporani The cover of Mètode's latest issue is a fragment of The enchanted cove by the landscape painter Joaquim Mir. This Catalan artist was charmed by the

Red Eléctrica de España Power lines mark the landscape and thus rouse public objection. Electricity plays a leading role in the 21st century. The ability to generate electricity using renewable and CO2-free

© Valentín Rodríguez. The future energy model in our country is based, among others, on wind power. However, there is a debate over landscape living together with this clean kind of

IREC The Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya, IREC) was set up in 2008. The centre is an example of a strong commitment to research

LM Windpower The huge turbine Haliade 150 generates 6 megawatts of power and measures 150 meters in diameter. These types of wind turbines are geared exclusively for marine use, where large

Spanish Solar Thermal Electric Industry Association Solar thermal power stations capture heat, not light, using parabolic mirrors to heat a fluid in a tube or by flat mirrors that heat a