Health for the Americas: the animations of Walt Disney Studios to the education of Latin American families in the context of the Good Neighbor Policy (1943-1946)

• Grant number: 11/23994-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of America
• Principal Investigator: Mariana Martins Villaça
• Grantee: Paula de Castro Broda
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research intends to reflect about the relations between the United States and Latin America during the World War II, when the Good Neighborhood Policy plays a key role for the consolidation of the union speech, and hemispheric security cooperation promoted by the USA. For this, we chose six animations produced by Walt Disney Studios between 1943 and 1946 as historical documents, which sought to promote the education of Latin American families in relation to issues of basic health and nutrition education. Focusing on ideological and aesthetic aspects present in the animations, we intend to analyze the speech and the widespread construction of the image of Latin Americans in these works and their performances. Also, another aim of our research is to understand the function and acting of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affair, the agency that coordinated the production lines and was developed to work in the transmission of the Good Neighborhood Policy in Latin America.(AU)