The “Progress” of Medicine: Late-nineteenth Century Positivist Attitudes towards Indigenous Mexican Medicine in Francisco Flores’ Historia de la Medicina en México
Session Number
Project ID: HIST 01
Advisor(s)
Eric Smith, PhD, and Sheila Wille, PhD, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Discipline
History
Start Date
17-4-2024 10:00 AM
End Date
17-4-2024 10:15 AM
Abstract
During Porfirio Díaz’s 1876-to-1910 dictatorship over Mexico (a period referred to as the Porfiriato), the Mexican political scene was dominated by positivism. The effects of positivism on late-nineteenth Mexican politics has been fairly well-studied, but its influence on Mexican medicine—and in particular, on the relationship between the emerging biomedical tradition and the millenia-old medical traditions of Mexico’s Indigenous populations—has not been. This paper seeks to fill that historiographical void.
In 1886, a Mexican medical student named Francisco Flores finished his thesis, entitled Historia de la medicina en México, desde la época de los indios hasta la presente. Explicitly influenced by positivism, this text offers a glimpse into the attitudes of a Porfirian biomedical doctor towards Indigenous Mexican medicine. This paper begins by positioning Flores’ Historia within the positivist-dominated intellectual climate of late-nineteenth century Mexico. Then, it shows that Flores’ positivist understanding of the “laws of history” led to his characterization of Indigenous Mexican medicine as an obstacle to progress that needed to be overcome by means of legislation and regulation. This paper continues by arguing that Flores’ attitude can be treated as a window into the ways that late-nineteenth century Mexican positivist biomedical doctors perceived Indigenous medicine in general, and concludes by suggesting ways that these perceptions may have influenced the nascent public health programs and biomedical research of Porfirian Mexico.
The “Progress” of Medicine: Late-nineteenth Century Positivist Attitudes towards Indigenous Mexican Medicine in Francisco Flores’ Historia de la Medicina en México
During Porfirio Díaz’s 1876-to-1910 dictatorship over Mexico (a period referred to as the Porfiriato), the Mexican political scene was dominated by positivism. The effects of positivism on late-nineteenth Mexican politics has been fairly well-studied, but its influence on Mexican medicine—and in particular, on the relationship between the emerging biomedical tradition and the millenia-old medical traditions of Mexico’s Indigenous populations—has not been. This paper seeks to fill that historiographical void.
In 1886, a Mexican medical student named Francisco Flores finished his thesis, entitled Historia de la medicina en México, desde la época de los indios hasta la presente. Explicitly influenced by positivism, this text offers a glimpse into the attitudes of a Porfirian biomedical doctor towards Indigenous Mexican medicine. This paper begins by positioning Flores’ Historia within the positivist-dominated intellectual climate of late-nineteenth century Mexico. Then, it shows that Flores’ positivist understanding of the “laws of history” led to his characterization of Indigenous Mexican medicine as an obstacle to progress that needed to be overcome by means of legislation and regulation. This paper continues by arguing that Flores’ attitude can be treated as a window into the ways that late-nineteenth century Mexican positivist biomedical doctors perceived Indigenous medicine in general, and concludes by suggesting ways that these perceptions may have influenced the nascent public health programs and biomedical research of Porfirian Mexico.