From the governmentalization of childhood to psychoanalyzed childhood: an archaeogenealogy of concepts about childhood propagated by specialized knowledge in England ("Eugenics Review" and John Bowlby) between 1942 and 1959

• Grant number: 24/00778-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Theory and Philosophy of History
• Principal Investigator: Hélio Rebello Cardoso Júnior
• Grantee: Kaira Neder
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/00811-6 - Childhood, development and family in Michel Foucault, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This project has an interdisciplinary character to the extent that it consists in a study of the history and epistemology of psychology and psychoanalysis. More particularly, it refers to an intersection between the historiography of childhood and the history of sciences (from a Foucauldian perspective). Our hypothesis is that developmental psychoanalysis, which emerged in the context of the Second World War, from figures such as John Bowlby, established a discontinuity with regard to concepts and practices relating to childhood; that is, if with the establishment of modernity a biopolitics of preserving the physical aspects of childhood emerged (combating high mortality rates, body care, for example), with the emergence of psychoanalysis of a developmental nature, concerns and care regarding the child's psychological aspects were added to the preservation of the body material.Based on the hypothesis, the goal is to carry out an archaeogenealogy of concepts and practices conveyed by specialized discourses (medicine, psychology, psychiatry, etc.) about childhood between 1942 and 1959 in England, the birthplace of developmental psychoanalysis. Two discursive groups were listed in an attempt to achieve the objective: eugenic material from the British eugenic society journal Eugenics Review (as a representative of a discursive practice that aimed the preservation of the child's body); and the work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby. It is considered that responding to the objective outlined would be of immense interest to the Brazilian historiography psychology and childhood psychology, insofar as there is no Brazilian historiography that investigates this discontinuity. Furthermore, no historical-conceptual study on John Bowlby's production was found in the country, which consists a gap, as it refers to an author who bases national documents that establish public policies, and whose theory is widely applied in Brazilian clinical, hospital, juridical and educational contexts.