21A. 460J – Medicine, Religion, and Politics in Africa and the African Diaspora Lecture 11 10 March 2005 Gender, Nation, Notions of Illness Tropicalistas: a group of doctors in Brazil, responsible for establishing and defining field of ‘tropical medicine,’ basically establishing how biomedicine will be implemented in Brazil • Tropicalistas held neo-Lamarckian beliefs • Believed that organisms adapted to environmental factors and pass those traits to their offspring (phenotype can affect genotype, as well as vice versa) • However, they believed that race was not a changeable condition, although many other characteristics could be • Had the task of defining tropical disease: uncertain whether tropical medicine would encompass only a limited range of diseases particular to tropical countries, or whether it was a larger field encompassing social conditions of specific tropical countries that could exacerbate diseases. • Creating and legitimizing differences among populations in Brazil could justify the inclusion of Brazil in global spheres – Practice of medicine not only a measure for improving the lives of individuals in the population, but also a tool used by the state to prove Brazil’s degree of ‘civilization’ or ‘rationality’ for inclusion among Western countries Historical Background • In tropical countries the reactions of Europeans in different climate used to establish ‘proof’ of the supposed superiority of Europeans o Their relative weakness in the tropics led to conclusion that they were superior (their mental faculties were overdeveloped, leaving them incapable of tolerating physical extremes) o Employed ‘just can’t win’ logic to continuously reinforce notion of European superiority:  Europeans were superior because they were weak in tropical climate, Africans were inferior because they were capable of tolerating (which the Europeans perceived to indicate that their mental faculties were underdeveloped) o Reminiscent of American Jim Crow laws, which used fallacious logic to justify position of white Americans o This is a psychological mechanism and even a conscious strategy to continuously reinforce status quo • Even in 19th, even 20th century science the state of the science largely reflected the biases, anxieties, and concerns of the society. (same discourse in development discourse—role of environment, culture—the new way to label groups in overly essentialized, generalized, stereotypical way) • Brazilians actively accepted and refuted these notions in developing their own set of ethical standards and guidelines 121A. 460J – Medicine, Religion, and Politics in Africa and the African Diaspora Lecture 11 10 March 2005 • Cartwright: African physiology—comparing African male slave to white male child—discourse of lung development parallels discourse on environment in that environment is seen to affect physiology • Discourse about the Curse of Ham as the historical progenitor for African race. This notion reflects the competition between monogenism, which is the idea that there is a single source of humanity, versus polygenism, meaning that there are many different though similar points at which humanity developed separately, although in parallel for the most part. The Biblical idea of the Curse of Ham favors polygenism, hence that Africans are inherently a different species from Europeans, not from same ancestral stock. Emerges again in mid-19th century to later around issue of slavery and issues of human rights (Frederick Douglass) • Haiti in 19th century was one of a few black independent nations followed by Liberia (established in 1816, and independent in 1847). However, Haiti was not formally recognized until post-slavery in USA. • Cultural notions of women’s bodies were linked to ideas of racialism and hygiene—look back at Fabian to what hygiene meant to explorers • Nature v. nurture shift in discourse about the hierarchy of civilizations. There is still a perceived hierarchy, but rather than considering perceived defects to be the result of innate ‘nature’ it is now considered to be the result of having been ‘isolated from civilized centers.’ It’s better than blaming on innate capacity, which implies impossibility of improvement, but still using Eurocentric standards of civilized. Rationale • The productivity of laborers, mass of productive individuals, security of state, biopower— all these became focus of the new state, in particular to regulate a population. The application of scientific research methods necessary to categorize individuals by their respective attributes in efforts to produce most efficient labor force for securing the state. This was the reason behind concern to assure that environment, education changes can move forward, at least for a small racially mixed elite class. Much more racial mixing in Brazil than other countries • Bodies-capacity-reason was different discourse in Brazil—different formulation of embodiment as it relates to ideas of progress and state • Rejection of European ‘racial science’, whitening/bleaching; whites pulled down by blacks OR blacks pulled up by whites—a lot of mixing occurred. Mulattoes—a larger population—pulled themselves up—power in numbers?—turning the tables • In Brazil, brutal and harsh conditions for the slaves meant that slave force could not reproduce itself, necessitating either more importation or relaxed views on labor force. Issue became importation v reproduction of slaves. Racial hybridization • Legal—free w/black v. white mixing—attempting to adopt the dominant discourse/morals/cultural social patterns of the upper class to ally itself with more with Europe—Haiti citizenship rights in France—reinforce difference between 221A. 460J – Medicine, Religion, and Politics in Africa and the African Diaspora Lecture 11 10 March 2005 them and blacks. 18th century laws emerged to make distinctions between whites and those colored • James: 1st chapter of dissertation • Laws provide opportunity to create more distinction between social groups, especially in issues such as race-body-gender. • Brings to question issues of citizenship, economics, power • Can theories of biopower (Foucault) be applied outside European context? • Racial “devolution” —less civilized at the level of the body than predecessors • Social