Biomedical knowledge in Mexico during the Cold War and its impact in pictorial representations of Homo sapiens and racial hierarchies.

Erica Torrens

doi:10.1590/s0104-59702019000100013

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the state of Mexican genetics and biomedical knowledge during the second half of the twentieth century, as well as its impact on the visual representation of human groups and racial hierarchies, based on social studies of scientific imaging and visualization (SIV) and theoretical concepts and methods. It also addresses the genealogy and shifts of the concept of race and racialization of Mexican bodies, concluding with the novel visual culture that resulted from genetic knowledge merged with the racist phenomenon in the second half of the twentieth century in Mexico.

Highlights

Resumo Este artigo traça um panorama do estado da genética e do conhecimento biomédico no México durante a segunda metade do século XX, assim como seu impacto na representação visual de grupos humanos e hierarquias raciais, baseado em estudos sociais da imagem e visualização cientifica e de seus métodos e conceitos teóricos
This transnational approach began to emerge at the end of the Cold War in other areas of history such as diplomacy and international relations to question nationalist narratives
Because the discourse on racial hierarchy has generally been supported by illustrations since the eighteenth century (Guédron, 2014) which have changed according to shifts in the scientific conceptions of race and human evolution, it is relevant to investigate local visual responses to theories on human diversity by Mexican scientists and educators during the Cold War period