Racial degeneration, mental hygiene, and the beginning of Peruvian psychiatry, 1922–1934.

Abstract

Between 1922 and 1934, three pamphlets and a series of articles on mental hygiene were published in important newspapers in Lima, Peru. Their authors were Hermilio Valdizán and Honorio Delgado, two members of the first generation of psychiatrists in the country. These mass publications aimed to educate the population on what mental illness was, as well as its causes and symptoms. In addition, they sought to promote the figure of the psychiatrist as a specialist in "madness" whose recommendations should be heeded in family life. To that end, these publications contained true cases, related in melodramatic language, in order to reach a broader audience. Beyond their educative intention, these publications used ideas that Peruvian elites held about racial differentiation, because they were aimed at White and mestizo readers and had the express intention of preventing racial "degeneration." The analysis of this primary source material is complemented with other texts by Valdizán that sought to comprehend the manifestations of insanity among Native Peruvians, for which he used degeneration theory to explain the degree of "backwardness" observed among the races that were considered inferior. This article seeks to analyze the viewpoints held on racial differences by the most significant members of Peru's first generation of psychiatrists, in which degeneration theory was key in explaining the differences between human groups and in justifying the superiority of Whites and Western culture in the Peruvian state's mestizo identity initiative.

Onofroff, Los Médicos Profesionales Y El Desarrollo De La Hipnosis en Perú (1898-1916)

“…Desde 1915 la primera generación de psiquiatras peruanos había dado marcha a un proceso de profesionalización y "psiquiatrización" de la sociedad, actuando desde distintos frentes institucionales y bajo una consigna preventiva y funcional a los intereses del Estado (Ríos 2019;Ruiz 1994:110). Por ello, no resultaba extraño que ante la confusión que provocaba la personalidad de Alejandrino, las autoridades llamaran al psiquiatra Hermilio Valdizán para realizar un estudio científico.…”

Indígenas tristes y degenerados: la mirada psiquiátrica de Hermilio Valdizán sobre la diferencia racial en Perú, 1910-1925

“…Si bien escribió algunos artículos sobre clínica psiquiátrica, peritajes y tratamientos para la psicosis, la mayor parte de sus trabajos versaron sobre higiene mental, historia de la medicina y folklore psiquiátrico. Sus textos periodísticos sobre la higiene mental, dirigidos a los padres de familia con recomendaciones para evitar que alguna forma de enfermedad mental entrara al seno doméstico han sido analizados previamente (Ríos Molina, 2019;Stucchi-Portocarrero, 2018). De los trabajos sobre historia de la medicina nos limitaremos a mencionar los más destacados: La Facultad de Medicina de Lima (1913, tres volúmenes), Diccionario de medicina peruana (1918, cinco volúmenes), Apuntes para la bibliografía médica peruana (1928) y Los locos de la colonia (1919).…”

Psychology and psychiatry in the global world: Historical perspectives.

“…Latin American physicians have long argued that race mixing or the intermarriage of native Americans and European immigrants had created a novel race that was well suited to populate the newly discovered continent, in contrast with European and North American eugenicists who touted the benefits of racial purity (Walsh, 2015). In his article on racial degeneration, mental hygiene, and Peruvian psychiatry, Andres Rios-Molina (2019, pp. 225–243) analyzes how these typically Latin American themes were present in the popular writings of early Peruvian psychiatrists.…”