Civilizing Argentina: Science, Medicine, and the Modern State

321 Pages·2006·2.8 MB·English

by  Julia Rodriguez

Civilizing Argentina
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Civilizing
Argentina
science, medicine,
and the modern state
Julia Rodriguez
The University of
North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
∫ 2006 Julia Rodriguez Library of Congress Cataloging-in-
All rights reserved Publication Data
Manufactured in the United States of America Rodriguez, Julia, 1967–
Civilizing Argentina : science, medicine,
Set in Cycles and Arepo and the modern state / Julia Rodriguez.
by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and
This book was published with the assistance index.
of the Anniversary Endowment Fund of the isbn-13: 978-0-8078-2997-4 (cloth: alk. paper)
University of North Carolina Press. isbn-10: 0-8078-2997-8 (cloth: alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-8078-5669-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for isbn-10: 0-8078-5669-x (pbk.: alk. paper)
permanence and durability of the Committee 1. Argentina—Civilization—19th century.
on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity 2. Argentina—History—1860–1910.
of the Council on Library Resources. 3. Argentina—Civilization—Philosophy.
4. Argentina—Social policy. 5. Science
and state—Argentina—History. 6. Science
and civilization. 7. Eugenics—Argentina—
History. 8. Social control—Argentina—
History. I. Title.
f2847.r639 2006
982%.04—dc22 2005022336
cloth 10 09 08 07 06 5 4 3 2 1
paper 10 09 08 07 06 5 4 3 2 1
For Charlie
with love and gratitude
Unhappy is the land that needs heroes.
—bertolt brecht, Galileo Galilei
Contents
acknowledgments xi
introduction 1
part i. Symptoms
one Barbarism and the Civilizing Sciences 11
Barbarism in a Young and Fertile Country 11
Civilizing the Pampa: Transcending the Nation’s Past 16
‘‘To Govern Is to Populate’’: Importing Whiteness 20
The Generation of 1880: Making a Great Nation 25
two The Rise of the Social Pathologists: Merging Science
and the State 29
Argentina, the Idea of Europe, and Racial Implications 32
‘‘In the Echo of Your Progress’’: A Transatlantic Conversation 37
An Alliance of State and Science for the Advancement of Hygiene 40
The Medical Policing of the ‘‘Born Criminal’’ 44
part ii. Diagnosis
three A National Science to Investigate the ‘‘Abnormal
Individual’’ 53
‘‘A Study of Our Own Criminality’’: Measuring Social Pathology 54
A Synthetic Program of Psychopathology 59
A Taxonomy of Delinquents and Deviants 61
‘‘A Useful Exaggeration’’: Classification and Race 63
four Defects of Organic Constitution:
Degeneration of the Nation’s ‘‘Germ Plasm’’ 71
Unnatural Sex: Female Hysteria and Other Psychoses 73
The Urban Male Criminal: Indolence, Regressive Heredity, and Alcoholism 79
‘‘A Foreign and Hostile Horde’’: The Crowd 84
The Worst Type of Criminal: The Anarchist of ‘‘Degenerate Lineage’’ 88
part iii. Prescriptions
five Women Confined to Save the Future Nation:
Home and Houses of Deposit 95
The ‘‘Pride of the Kitchen, Bedroom, and Parlor’’ but Prone to Hysteria 99
Wayward Wives, Women on Deposit, and Feminist Responses 105
Regulating the Pathological Prostitute 107
The Civilizing Influence of Mothers and the ‘‘Improvement of the Species’’ 112
six Men on the Street: A Threat to ‘‘Our Industrial
and Social Organization’’ 131
Social Parasites Who ‘‘Refuse to Obey the Natural Law of Work’’ 134
Men in Groups: ‘‘A Very Grave Danger to the Public Order’’ 138
A Science of Political Policing 141
‘‘Our Police Have Obtained a Complete Success’’: Fingerprinting the Masses 145
seven Places of Regeneration: Prison and Asylum as
‘‘Medicine for the Soul’’ 150
‘‘Moral Orthopedics’’: Specialized Institutions for the Mentally Ill, Women, and
Juveniles 153
‘‘A System of Rational Separation’’: The National Penitentiary 161
‘‘True Innovation in the Study of the Criminal’’: The Criminology Institute 165
Regeneration through the ‘‘Love of Work’’ and Civic Morals 169
part iv. Hygiene
eight Public Hygiene against Foreign Contagion and ‘‘Sanitary
Anarchy’’ 177
Public Hygiene as a ‘‘Material Religion’’ 179
‘‘Selective Immigration with Scientific Criteria’’: A Solution to ‘‘Deplorable
Ethnic Conditions’’ 186
Fingerprinting Foreigners to Inoculate against ‘‘Pernicious Elements’’ 196
nine To ‘‘Formulate a New Race, the Argentine Race,’’
for Democracy and Civic Regeneration 200
Weighing and Measuring the Words of Law: Legal Codes and Civic
Responsibility 202
Determining Dangerousness to Ensure Maximum Social Security 207
‘‘Cover Them with the Flag’’: Naturalization and Citizenship 212
The ‘‘Intelligent Incorporation’’ of the Immigrant 217
ten ‘‘Fully Attacking the Source of Moral Infection’’:
Purging the Nation of Incurables 224
‘‘Preventive-Social Hygiene’’: A Permanent Segregation of the Dangerous
Element 226
Perfecting the Social and Legal Order: Fingerprinting as Prophylaxis 236
‘‘Errors of Sex’’: Social Prophylaxis and Sexual Control 243
afterword: A ‘‘New Civilization’’ Shaped by Science:
Its Paradoxes and Its Consequences 247
notes 259
essay on sources 297
index 303
maps and illustrations
Map 1. Provinces and Territories of Argentina and Native Tribes of the
Buenos Aires Region, ca. 1840 12
Map 2. Buenos Aires, Waterfront and Surrounding Barrios, circa 1910 98
A section of photographs appears after page 120.