Profesiones sanitarias y lucha de poderes en el México del siglo XIX

Abstract

To establish their knowledge as a power base was one of the 19^th century Mexican doctors' objectives. In order to achieve that, they tried to convince the State and the population of the superiority of 'scientific medicine', as they refered to it, by means of their professional associations and periodicals. In addition to this, they intended to control the disciplines that had started developing within medicine, and openly fought against medical practices which invaded what they thought was their exclusive domain. In general, they sought to organize medical knowledge, rank it, make it a concern of State and of socio-economic status. Other health professions reacted collectivelly against these attemps at control and exclusion, struggling for their autonomy. In that century there was an accelerated growth in the field of medicine and medical procedures. For instance, in the case of epidemics, the State forced the population to receive medical attention. One of the keys to understand the professionalisation of 19^th century Mexican medicine is the relationship between medical knowledges and its procedures, on the one hand, and on the other, the medical profession's own organizations, other medical knowledges, the State and the uninitiated world.