Abstract

VALLEJO, Mauro. The role played by the press in struggles against consolidation of the medical profession in Buenos Aires, 1890-1900. Dynamis [online]. 2017, vol.37, n.2, pp.295-316. ISSN 2340-7948.

The aim of this paper was to highlight the role played by newspapers and other press media in the opposition to the consolidation of the medical profession in Buenos Aires in the 1890s. This investigation is based on the hypothesis that journalism was essential both for the accomplishment of the physicians' health project and for the fight of those who were against it. Newspaper articles not only mirrored the struggles and negotiations taking place but were also part of the weaponry employed by the two sides. In other words, journalism was to a large extent the field and ultimate matter of these battles. This article analyzes a few cases in an attempt to convey the different ways in which the enemies of medicalization drew on the press in order to publicize their claims. Popular healers, foreign doctors, magnetizers and illusionists supported their demands using different tactics that revolved around journalism (e.g., open letters, interviews and articles challenging the work of physicians). They even went so far as to publish their own journals, which until now have not captured the attention of historians.

Keywords : medicalization; quackery; press; Argentina; hypnotism.

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