Higiene, educação e cuidados com a infância: o discurso médico nas teses da Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro (1840-1882)

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the medical discourse about childhood hygiene in theses defended at the Rio de Janeiro College of Medicine during the Second Reign, and reflects on the main concerns, interventions, and social representations of this theme. To this end, 16 dissertation-style theses presented by medical school students from different regions of Brazil in order to gain the title of medical doctor were analyzed. First, each thesis was individually analyzed so that later the relationship among them could be examined. It was essential to cross-reference these sources to better understand the medical discourse of the 19th century, with all of its “certainties” and contradictions. It was observed in this study that the childcare covered a long period, from pregnancy to puberty, following medical guidelines directed at both the habits of the children and the family, and also their behavior, especially of the mother. Compliance and surveillance of the various actions implemented and behavioral models to be adopted for children's development were defended by doctors as being the primary responsibility of the family, doctors, midwives, and educational institutions. Reflecting on this context, this work is anchored in the tenets of cultural history and studies of Foucault, culminating in an understanding of the medical discourse, which, shaped by hygienist thinking, sought to discipline and educate society with regard to child hygiene, intervening in habits and behavior, judging that in so doing, it was making them healthy, moral and hygienic.