The Religion of Life: Eugenics, Race, and Catholicism in Chile

Description

The Religion of Life examines the interconnections and relationship between Catholicism and eugenics in early twentieth-century Chile. Specifically, it demonstrates that the popularity of eugenic science was not diminished by the influence of Catholicism there. In fact, both eugenics and Catholicism worked together to construct the concept of a unique Chilean race, la raza chilena. A major factor that facilitated this conceptual overlap was a generalized belief among historical actors that male and female gender roles were biologically determined and therefore essential to a functioning society. As the first English-language study of eugenics in Chile, The Religion of Life surveys a wide variety of different materials (periodicals, newspapers, medical theses, and monographs) produced by Catholic and secular intellectuals from the first half of the twentieth century. What emerges from this examination is not only a more complex rendering of the relationship between religion and science but also the development of White supremacist logics in a Latin American context. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. “The Girl Is Not Pursued”: Shared Perspectives and Threats to the Chilean Race Chapter 2. The Two Truths: “Harmonizing” Catholicism and Science Chapter 3. What Is Eugenics in Chile? Formulating a National Discipline from a Transnational Movement Chapter 4. “One of the Most Uniform Races of the Entire World”: Raza chilena and the Construction of Chilean Racial Homogeneity Chapter 5. “Intimately Linked to the Issue of Sex”: Racial Health and the Modernization of Patriarchy Chapter 6. Picturing la raza chilena: Visual Imagery and the Creation of a Racial Type Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index