Abstract

LINARES, Luciana. Marriages and more: Eugenic discourse on mate selecting process. The case of Viva Cien Años magazine, 1935-1947. Av. Cesor [online]. 2016, vol.13, n.14, pp.89-109. ISSN 1514-3899.

The main objective of this article, addresses the issue of selecting, ranking and classifying mates proposed by eugenics as a scientific discipline during the thirties in Argentina. In order to achieve this, we analyze the mechanisms of discursive construction from a wide circulation media (the case of the Viva CienAños magazine)  which advised about forming marriages. We will see how an intertextuality is stablished between several discourses -as is the case of medical discourse, academic, political, religious, etc.-, that bring to follow a kind of recipe in order to choose the right partner. The argument underlying these mechanisms, trying to persuade mostly women , is based on the pursuit of racial improvement and the optimization of heritable characteristics, as a part of the “ duty to the Fatherland.” These issues served as the backbone of a discourse rooted in the ideal of healthy and strong people, which the eugenicists and other professionals took and tried to spread. according to their pedagogical objective, on the one hand and their preventive objective, on the other.

Keywords : Eugenics; Marriage; Couple; Selection.

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