O 1º Congresso Nacional de Medicina Tropical (Lisboa, 1952) e a “Missão Civilizadora” de Portugal no Mundo

Abstract

This paper results from the initiative taken by the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of Lisbon, IHMT (institution representing today the first school of Portuguese Tropical Medicine, founded in Lisbon in 1902) in 2013, promoting the 2nd National Congress of Tropical Medicine, in memory of the 1st congress occurred 61 years before. It aims to analyse the motivations which conducted to the 1st National Congress of the History of Medicine held in Lisbon in 1952, in memory of the first 50 years of Portuguese tropical medicine under the imperialist project of the Portuguese State, as well as its projection throughout the following years, and which was the motto for an exhibition, opened to the public between the months of April and July (2013) in the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , entitled “Portugal in the world – the 1st National Congress of Tropical Medicine, 1952.” The 1st National Congress of Tropical Medicine led by its director, Joao Fraga de Azevedo (1906-1977), represents an important landmark for the Portuguese history of science and medicine, in what concerns understanding the rhetoric and the Portuguese colonial discourse, for which tropical medicine, its actors and institutions contributed significantly to the imperialist project, in respect to the consolidation and the projection of Portugal’s image in the world. The Congress was organized around two axes of analysis: a commemorative documentary exhibition of overseas sanitary activities by the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Portuguese tropical medicine, and the scientific congress itself, which brought together the main stakeholders of the medical network in the metropolis and in the colonies of the national context, as well as the participation of some international figures of relevance in tropical medicine. As methodology, we will analyse the iconographic and documentary material existing in the museum of the IHMT, such as the correspondence related to the organisation of this congress, the scientific and social programme, the scientific communications, some iconography related with the exhibition on the overseas sanitary activities, and the movies produced for the event. Amongst the multiplicity of papers presented at this conference, later published in the Anais do Instituto de Medicina Tropical (Annals of the Institute of Tropical Medicine) we will particularly focus on the analysis of communications on trypanosomiasis and malaria, as well as on some elements of the exhibition of Overseas Sanitary Activities, held at the National Palace of Junqueira (Palace Burnay), crucial elements to understand the importance of this congress to the consolidation and projection of the Portugal image around the world. Should this paper contribute to explore new and different lines of research on Portuguese tropical medicine providing continuity to this piece of our history always unfinished.