Abstract:As histórias do espiritismo e da psiquiatria apresentam vários pontos de contato e conflito. Houve um acirrado confronto entre eles em torno da “loucura espírita”. Investigamos como a mediunidade passou a ser interpretada como causa e/ou manifestação de doenças mentais no Brasil. Pesquisamos em fontes bibliográficas primarias: artigos científicos e da imprensa leiga, teses, livros e conferências. Tanto a psiquiatria quanto o espiritismo buscavam legitimação de seu espaço cultural, científico e institucional de… Show more
“…The fact that the number of publications defaming the latter significantly declined in the 1950s can be understood as a sign that ‘official’ medicine had finally achieved its hegemonic position. (Almeida, 2007: 192–197)…”
Section: The Release Of Spiritism From Annihilation-effortsmentioning
The rhetorical strategy of annihilation appears in situations of conflict between different world-views. It is the attempt of one of the parties involved to attribute an inferior status to the adversary. The technique requires the capacity of a social actor of influencing the public image of the phenomenon in question in a way that a public interest in the campaign becomes obvious. The success of this process of social construction depends on a twofold rhetorical talent of the ‘constructor’. The first faculty is to reduce the complexity of the challenging phenomenon to alleged ‘core elements’. The second one is to associate these ‘core elements’ to pre-established negative definitions so that the ‘enemy’ appears as a mere variant of a well-known unacceptable social phenomenon. In order to illustrate how and why the strategy of annihilation works, the article refers to the campaign against Spiritism driven by Brazilian authorities between 1890 and 1940.
“…The fact that the number of publications defaming the latter significantly declined in the 1950s can be understood as a sign that ‘official’ medicine had finally achieved its hegemonic position. (Almeida, 2007: 192–197)…”
Section: The Release Of Spiritism From Annihilation-effortsmentioning
The rhetorical strategy of annihilation appears in situations of conflict between different world-views. It is the attempt of one of the parties involved to attribute an inferior status to the adversary. The technique requires the capacity of a social actor of influencing the public image of the phenomenon in question in a way that a public interest in the campaign becomes obvious. The success of this process of social construction depends on a twofold rhetorical talent of the ‘constructor’. The first faculty is to reduce the complexity of the challenging phenomenon to alleged ‘core elements’. The second one is to associate these ‘core elements’ to pre-established negative definitions so that the ‘enemy’ appears as a mere variant of a well-known unacceptable social phenomenon. In order to illustrate how and why the strategy of annihilation works, the article refers to the campaign against Spiritism driven by Brazilian authorities between 1890 and 1940.
Diversos aspectos da cultura podem impactar a ciência e prática médica, mas muitas vezes esses fatores não recebem a atenção devida. Este artigo aborda diferentes fatores culturais que geraram teorias e práticas discriminatórias da ciência e prática médica em relação a raça e a religiões mediúnicas no Brasil na primeira metade do século XX. Inicialmente, com base em fontes primárias, serão apresentadas as perspectivas dos médicos sobre a questão racial e então são analisados fatores cognitivos (etnocentrismo e preconceitos), socioeconômicos (não considerar a desvantagem econômica) e históricos (urbanização, prestígio da eugenia, construção do país) que influenciaram negativamente suas posturas. Posteriormente, também com base nas fontes primárias, apresentamos e analisamos o discurso médico sobre a loucura espírita, onde as vivências mediúnicas são entendidas como sintomas ou causas importantes de doenças mentais graves. A seguir, são analisados aspectos religiosos (catolicismo), filosóficos (materialismo e visão de ciência) que influenciaram esse discurso. Conclui-se pela necessidade de se atentar para a influência de fatores culturais nos discursos e práticas de diversas áreas da ciência, bem como no cuidado aos limites das áreas de abrangência de cada disciplina científica.
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