Abstract

FIQUEPRON, Maximiliano Ricardo. CUERPOS TRANSFORMADOS: Representaciones sobre la salud y la enfermedad durante las epidemias de cólera y fiebre amarilla en Buenos Aires (1867-1871). Rev. hist. am. argent. [online]. 2017, vol.52, n.2, pp.43-66. ISSN 2314-1549.

The aim of the present work is to investigate the representations of health and disease that had been associated with cholera and yellow fever epidemics between 1867 and 1871 in the city of Buenos Aires. The main argument of this work is that these epidemics generated deep social crises, affecting all spheres of social life. In addition to the death of a large part of the population, this kind of traumatic episodes had an impact on the notions of health and illness due to the fact that they produced a series of symptoms and particular ailments on the body, causing a transformation of the patient´s condition characterized by the estrangement and rejection of those around him. Given the circumstances of a disease that transformed the body bringing a painful and inevitable death, treatments and medicines not only looked for a cure but also to return the humanity to those bodies convulsed by the disease.

Keywords : Epidemics; Representations; Body; XIX Century; Buenos Aires.