Abstract

OLAYA-PELAEZ, Iván-Darío. Colombia in the Transnational Epistemic Networks of Eugenics (1920-1940). Hist. Soc. [online]. 2022, n.42, pp.11-36.  Epub Feb 27, 2022. ISSN 0121-8417.  https://doi.org/10.15446/hys.n42.91951.

The "climate of ideas" emerging in the Western World around racial degeneration and Eugenics as its possible solution, led to the construction of a transnational epistemic network. The young Latin-American countries, seeking to build Nation-states, joined this world movement given that the nation's progress allegedly relied on people's good genetic constitution. Between 1920 and 1940, a Pan American eugenics project started. It would set public policies across the continent in order to produce the "suitable" American man. Even if the eugenic movement wasn't institutionalised in Colombia, the country wasn't indifferent to its principles. Some Colombian experts applied them to social projects and national public laws such as those related to immigration and child welfare. By analysing the proceedings of some Pan American specialised congresses, this article shows how some Colombian experts integrated the Latin American eugenic epistemic networks and participated in the construction of a Pan American eugenic project between 1920 and 1940.

Keywords : eugenics; science and society; transnational epistemic networks; Pan Americanism; specialised congresses; Colombian experts; population control.

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