Marriages and more. Eugenic discourse on mate selecting process. The case of Viva Cien Años magazine, 1935-1947

The main objective of this article, addresses the issue of selecting, ranking and classifying mates proposed by eugenics as a scientific discipline during the thirties in Argentina. In order to achieve this, we analyze the mechanisms of discursive construction from a wide circulation media (the case...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Luciana Linares
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Nacional de Rosario 2016-07-01
Series:Avances del Cesor
Subjects:
Online Access:http://web2.rosario-conicet.gov.ar/ojs/index.php/AvancesCesor/article/view/592
Description
Summary:The main objective of this article, addresses the issue of selecting, ranking and classifying mates proposed by eugenics as a scientific discipline during the thirties in Argentina. In order to achieve this, we analyze the mechanisms of discursive construction from a wide circulation media (the case of the Viva Cien Años magazine)  which advised about forming marriages. We will see how an intertextuality is stablished between several discourses -as is the case of medical discourse , academic, political , religious , etc.-, that bring to follow a kind of recipe in order to choose the right partner. The argument underlying these mechanisms, trying to persuade mostly women , is based on the pursuit of racial improvement and the optimization of heritable characteristics , as a part of the " duty to the Fatherland.". These issues served as the backbone of a discourse rooted in the ideal of healthy and strong people, which the eugenicists and other professionals took and tried to spread. according to their  pedagogical objective , on the one hand and their preventive objective, on the other.
ISSN:1514-3899
2422-6580