Iberian eugenics? Cross-overs and contrasts between Spanish and Portuguese eugenics, 1930-1950
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Cleminson, RichardEditorial
Universidad de Granada
Materia
Eugenesia Higiene racial Psicotécnica Orientación profesional Iberia Eugenics Racial hygiene Psychotechnics Professional orientation
Date
2017Referencia bibliográfica
Cleminson, R. «Iberian Eugenics? Cross-Overs and Contrasts Between Spanish and Portuguese Eugenics, 1930-1950». Dynamis: Acta Hispanica Ad Medicinae Scientiarumque Historiam Illustrandam, Vol. 37, Núm. 1, 1, p. 89-110, [https://raco.cat/index.php/Dynamis/article/view/318874]
Sponsorship
HAR2012-37754-C02-01 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad – Spain); Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Fellowship (AH/1026804/1, 2011- 2012)Abstract
This article provides the basis for further considerations on the overlap between
different expressions of science, in particular psychotechnics, biotypology and eugenics, in
Iberia. It sets the reception of and interest in these scientific undertakings within the specific
context pertaining in both Iberian dictatorships and considers the importance of the culture
of the scientific community, the role of religion and the presence of positivism within each.
While the actual traffic of knowledge between the two countries was limited, the contrasts and
differences in the uptake of these specialisms within the two countries and their proximity or
otherwise to other fascist and authoritarian regimes of the 1930s and 1940s are explored. The
article concludes that in the Spanish case, although there were greater proximities to certain
forms of fascist and Nazi eugenics, it was the commitment to Catholicism and nationalist regeneration
that allowed for concessions to environmental improvements. A more Germanic strain
was present in Portugal but this was dislodged by a consistent commitment to social hygiene
rather than racial hygiene, again within the constraints provided by overarching Catholicism.