Antonio Buj Buj
IES Doctor Puigvert
Passeig Santa Coloma, s/n
08030 - Barcelona (Spain)

(abuj1@pie.xtec.es)
 

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1989-1995: PhD, Human Geography, Barcelona.Univ., Barcelona.
Major field of concentration: Locust plagues in Spain (1850- 1950).
MA, Human Geography, Barcelona Univ., Barcelona.
BA, Contemporary History, Barcelona Univ., Barcelona.

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Agricultural hazards, science and the state intervention. Locust plagues, applied entomology and agricultural policy in Spain (1850 - 1950). Dissertation director: Horacio Capel.

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Erasmus Dissertation Fellowship, Lisbon Univ.,1990.
Cirit-Direcció General de Recerca Fellowship, L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris), 1993.

Llicència estudis/Generalitat de Catalunya-Departament d'Ensenyament Fellowship. September 1998/ August 1999.
PhD Qualifiying with Cum Laude - Unanimity.

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Participant in a great number of pedagogical activities (seminars, courses)

Secondary schools, 1982-1999.
Subdirector I.F.P. Cerdanyola del Vallés, 1989-1990.
Educational Experimentation, IES Cerdanyola del Vallés, 1987-1992.
IES Doctor Puigvert, Barcelona, 1992-1999.

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Contemporary History of Spain, History of Science, Environmental problems, natural hazards, agriculture, plagues, epidemics.

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"75 anys del Club Natació Barcelona. Esport, política i societat", L'Avenç, 57, February 1983, 24-31pp.

"La cuestión urbana en los informes de la Comisión de Reformas Sociales", offprint of Ciencia e ideología en la Ciudad (II). I Coloquio Interdepartamental. Valencia, 1991, Generalitat Valenciana, 1994, pp. 73-86. In Scripta Vetera. Serie Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 32, Universidad de Barcelona, http://www.ub.es/geocrit/reforma.htm.

"Control de las plagas de langosta y modernización agrícola en la España de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX", Geo Crítica, 95, July 1992, 67 pp. In Scripta Vetera. Serie Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 59, Universidad de Barcelona, http://www.ub.es/geocrit/geo95.htm.

 "International experimentation and control of the locust plague: Africa in the first half of the 20th century", in Yvon Chatelin y Christophe Bonneuil (scientists eds.): Nature et environnement. Vol. 3, Les sciences hors d'Occident au XXe siècle, París, ORSTOM Éd., 1995, pp. 93-105. In Scripta Vetera. Serie Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 31, Universidad de Barcelona, http://www.ub.es/geocrit/locust.htm.

"Control internacional de las plagas de langosta e institucionalización de la acridología en la primera mitad del siglo XX", Llull. Revista de la Sociedad Española de Historia de las Ciencias y de las Técnicas, 36 (19), Zaragoza, 1996, pp. 7-26.

"La langosta, problema nacional. El combate contra la plaga de langosta en España en la primera mitad del siglo XX", Arbor CLV, 609-610, Madrid, September-October 1996, pp. 151-175.

El Estado y el control de plagas agrícolas. La lucha contra la langosta en la España contemporánea, Madrid, Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, 1996, 348 pp.

"Los desastres naturales y la geografía contemporánea", Estudios Geográficos, LVIII, 229, Madrid, October-December 1997, pp. 545-564.

"L'Estat i els riscos agrícoles: el control de les plagues de llagosta a l'Espanya contemporània", in Georgina Blanes & Lluís Garrigós (coords.): IV Trobades d'Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica, Alcoi-Barcelona, Societat Catalana d'Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica-Filial de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1997, pp. 207-212.

"El control de las plagas de langosta en España en la primera mitad del siglo XX. El ingeniero agrónomo José Cruz Lapazarán y la plaga en Aragón", Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Barcelona (ISSN 1138-9788), 14, January 1998. In http://www.ub.es/geocrit/sn-14.htm.

"Los riesgos epidémicos actuales desde una perspectiva geográfica", Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Barcelona (ISSN 1138-9788), 39, May 1999, 21 pp. In http://www.ub.es/geocrit/sn-39.htm.

"El reto de las epidemias en Iberoamérica ante el nuevo milenio", in Iberoamérica ante los retos del siglo XXI. Número extraordinario dedicado al I Coloquio Internacional de Geocrítica (Actas del Coloquio), in Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Barcelona (ISSN 1138-9788), nº 45 (29), 1 August 1999. In http://www.ub.es/geocrit/sn-45.htm.

"La langosta. Riesgo universal, calamidad regional", Mundo Científico, 204, Barcelona, September 1999, pp. 70-76.

El retorn de les plagues. El context mediambiental de tres plagues actuals: la llagosta, la malària i la sida, 85 pp. In progress.

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B. Bennassar (ed.): Les catastrophes naturelles dans l'Europe médiévale et moderne, Toulouse, Presses Universitaires du Mirail, 1996, 272 pp., in Biblio 3w. Revista Bibliográfica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 57, Universidad de Barcelona (ISSN 1138-9796), January 1998. In http://www.ub.es/geocrit/b3w-57.htm

Marcos Cueto: El regreso de las epidemias. Salud y sociedad en el Perú del siglo XX, Lima, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 1997, 256 pp., in Biblio 3w. Revista Bibliográfica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 176, Universidad de Barcelona (ISSN 1138-9796), October 1999. In http://www.ub.es/geocrit/b3w-176.htm.

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Vicente L. Salavert: Cronos. Cuadernos Valencianos de Historia de la Medicina y de la Ciencia, 1 (1), December 1998, pp. 161-164.

José L. Peset: Asclepio. Revista de Historia de la Medicina y de la Ciencia, vol. LI, fasc. 1, 1999, pp. 299-301.
 

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"La cuestión urbana en los informes de la Comisión de Reformas Sociales". I Coloquio Interdepartamental. Ciencia e ideología en la ciudad, Valencia, 24, 25 y 26 de enero de 1991, Valencia, 24-26 January 1991, Alicante Univ.-Barcelona Univ.-Valencia Univ./CSIC.

"El control de las plagas de langosta y la modernización agrícola en la España del siglo XIX", Geo Crítica Seminar, Barcelona Univ., April, 1992.

"Control of locust plague in Spain in the first half of the XXth century. The agronomist José Cruz Lapazarán and the plague in Aragón", XIXth International Congress of History of Science 1993 (Zaragoza), August, 1993.

"La langosta en Africa. Experimentación científica y control internacional", Geo Crítica Seminar, Barcelona Univ. May, 1994.

"International experimentation and control of the locust plague: Africa in the first half of the 20th century", Colloque ORSTOM/UNESCO, Paris, 19-23 September 1994.

"Les plagues de la llagosta: un amenaça mil.lenaria i un perill actual", I Jornades Catalano-Canadenques sobre Política i Gestió del Medi Natural, Barcelona, 14-15 November 1994.

"El Estado y los riesgos agrícolas: el control de las plagas de langosta en la España contemporánea", Simposium Ciència, tècnica i societat en l'agricultura del segle XIX, IV Trobada d'Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica, Alcoi (Alicante), 13-15 December 1996.

"Las plagas de langosta y la actividad agrícola. Incidencia en Extremadura", V Jornadas Hispano-Canadienses de Medio Ambiente, Cáceres, Centro de Estudios Canadienses / Extremadura Univ., 19-26 October 1998.

"El reto de las epidemias en Iberoamérica ante el nuevo milenio", Iberoamérica ante los retos del siglo XXI / I Coloquio Internacional de Geocrítica, Barcelona Univ., Facultad de Geografía e Historia-Departamento de Geografía Humana, 26-27 May 1999. In http://www.ub.es/geocrit/menu.htm.

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Seminar (Participant): "Los riesgos naturales en España. (El Decenio Internacional para la Reducción de los desastres naturales en el contexto español)", Menéndez Pelayo Univ., October 1992.

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The doctoral thesis Agricultural hazards, science and the state intervention. Locust plagues, applied entomology and agricultural policy in Spain (1850 - 1950), awarded by Antonio Buj in September of 1995 at the University of Barcelona, constitutes a research on the state efforts to organise the agricultural production and to control plagues through a specific administrative policy in which the application of the scientific knowledge becomes fundamental. This problem is studied by focussing on the locust plague which, although successfully controlled in Spain and other countries by applying certain scientific and political measures, has been affecting the agricultural activity for thousands of years.

The theme of the thesis is also inserted in recent studies on hazards and natural calamities developed in the field of Geography. The first chapter of the thesis deals with this.

The thesis is structured into three parts.

The first part, entitled "Locust plagues and applied entomology" looks into the history of locust plagues as a universal hazard and a regional calamity, the contributions of natural history to the research on this plague and those of the entomology science which has greatly developed in relation to the efforts aimed at plagues control. The thesis also tackles the institutionalisation of entomology in Spain in the XIXth ct. and its successful consequences in the fight against the locust.

The second part focuses the attention on the role of the state in plagues control, in general, and in the locust plague in particular. It looks into the laws developed during the modern Age and, above all, during the contemporary Age. It also looks into the role assigned to the scientific institutions and professional and technical boords in the plague control. Special attention is devoted to the task carried out by the Agricultural Engineers who were in charge of the technical supervision of the public policy.

Finally, the third part researches the new fighting methods developed in the XXth ct. and the new systems of international cooperation which has definitely meant a step forward in the attenuation of the hazards.

The bibliography used has been obtained from Spanish and foreign libraries and institutions and that has made possible to set the emphasis on the scientific study on the locust plague from a historical point of view as much as on the definition of the insect prevention policy and, from this, on the analysis of the state policy towards the fighting against agricultural plagues.

The thesis is inserted in the field of Spanish agricultural history, science history and the research on environmental problems. It also has implications from the social history point of view as it shows the difficulties to establish a general fighting policy due to the conflict between those who considered priority fighting the plagues, since they judged them as public calamities and those who put before their property right and, in relation to this, the owner's right to oppose the intervention in their estates.

The thesis also pretends to be an instrument for the better understanding of our present situation. It has to be taken into account that, although the plague had been controlled successfully in the past, it has become a hazard again as result of the lack of organisation in a large number of African countries and the new Asian countries after the division of the old USSR. Referring to Spain, the locust is still an eventual hazard but the preventive measures attenuate it greatly.