Hygiene in Dispute: anti-vaccinism, rhetoric, and politics in the context of the Vaccine Revolt (1903-1908)

• Grant number: 24/03934-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Theory
• Principal Investigator: Bernardo Ricupero
• Grantee: João Pedro Gomes Balanco
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/02324-5 - "Hygiene" in Dispute: A Concept in Circulation Between France and Brazil at the Turn of the 20th Century, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

The aim of this research is to reconstruct the sanitary debate that took place in the city of Rio de Janeiro during the period from 1903 to 1908. The research will focus on both the linguistic context of the anti-vaccination discourse, in which the Vaccine Revolt (1904) represents a crucial moment, and the dispute surrounding the importation of the Pasteurian paradigm and the centralization of hygiene services under the direction of the General Directorate of Public Health (DGSP). The research will be guided by two hypotheses, one general and one specific. The general hypothesis is that the term "hygiene," institutionalized by the Government, underwent rhetorical instrumentalization: when appropriated by the opposition, it took on the meaning of criticism of sanitary measures and resistance to the effects of the Pasteurian Revolution on public health policies. The specific hypothesis is that the Church and Apostolate of Positivism of Brazil (IAPB), an organization opposed to mandatory vaccination, found in the formulation of a medical doctrine a way to translate positivism in Brazil rooted in national issues, which allowed it to go beyond a mere orthodox reproduction of Auguste Comte's positivism. To investigate the rhetorical dispute and the appropriation and expropriation of terms in the debate, a documentary analysis of primary sources from different positions on sanitary measures will be conducted, including: the newspapers Correio da Manhã, O Paiz, Jornal do Commercio, and Gazeta de Notícias; speeches in the Chamber of Deputies; and finally, publications from the IAPB and french positivists.