MENÉNDEZ-NAVARRO, Alfredo; RODRÍGUEZ-OCAÑA, Esteban. From «Accident Medicine» to «Factory Medicine»: Spanish Occupational Medicine in the 20th Century. In: Grieco, A. (ed.), History of the Origins of Occupational Health Associations in the World, Amsterdam, Elsevier Science B.V. (forthcoming)
Abstract
Occupational Medicine became established as a speciality in Spain through the enactment of related social legislation, beginning with the 1900 Compensation Law, although this competence was not assigned to the National Insurance system introduced in 1942-44. Clinical concerns dominated its first years of existence, following an «Accident Medicine» approach. In the 1930s, leaders of the profession moved towards a wider definition of aims that included psycho-physical, biological and socio-environmental issues, and a small directive agency was established within the National Insurance Institute. The Franco regime created a network of Factory Medical Services in large companies (since 1956), staffed by so-called Factory Doctors. The scheme was supervised by a small technical team who received no support whatsoever from the Work Inspectorate, the Public Health Service or the National Insurance Medical Services. The lack of autonomy, poor funding, inadequate training and technical weaknesses of the Factory Medical Services (repeatedly reformed in the 1970s), alongside the low priority given to scientific research, explain the low profile of Occupational Medicine in the Spanish medical profession. International links with the former International Permanent Commission and the later ICOH have been maintained largely on a non-institutional basis.
This research was supported by the Spanish
Ministry of Science and Technology Project BHA2001-2979-C05-01.
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MENÉNDEZ NAVARRO, Alfredo. Shaping Industrial Health: The Debate on Asbestos Dust Hazards in UK, 1928-1939. In: Esteban Rodríguez Ocaña (ed.), The Politics of Healthy Life, An International Perspective, Sheffield, European Association for the History of Medicine and Health, 2002, pp. 63-87.
Summary
1.—Introduction. 2.—The Merewether & Price Report: A Camel Through the Eye of a Needle. 3.—Asbestos Industry Regulations: Protecting the Faith. 4.—Contextualising Asbestos Risks: Trades Union and Political Pressure on the Asbestos Issue.
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MEDINA DOMENECH, Rosa M.ª; MENÉNDEZ NAVARRO, Alfredo. Cinematic Representations of Medical Technologies in the Spanish Official Newsreel, 1943-1960. 6th Forum for Iberian Studies, University of Oxford, 18-19 May 2001 (en prensa)
Abstract
NO-DO, the newsreel produced by Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975), held a forty-year monopoly over audio-visual information in Spain. In this paper, we will focus on the crucial and changing roles played by cultural representations of medical technologies in NO-DO during its life. Attention will be paid to ‘spaces of representation’, which range from the modest laboratory at a leper sanatorium in the 40’s to a high-tech sophisticated Bethatron display in the late 50’s.
Medical technologies were of interest in their own right. Innovations, as well as accepted medical technologies, were presented, although with no relation to the Spanish health context of the time. The
NO-DO narrator style minimised specific technological details, employing a pompous and authoritative style and a largely meaningless and pseudo-scientific discourse. NO-DO was not aimed at the popularisation of scientific issues.Various filming genres were used, including amusement or curiosity items. Inauguration became a standard type of presentation in items dealing with the establishment of hospital complexes and healthcare facilities. This reporting genre helped to legitimise the regime, and especially its leader, as the country’s ‘true saviour,’ responsible for the economic boom and the modernisation of Spain. In addition, the inauguration genre also served to display popular support aimed at building a common Spanish identity. We will argue that the representations of Medicine played a key role in the construction of a national identity.
This paper is the preliminary result of a wider research program concerned with technologies and medical care in contemporary Spain, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education —Tecnología, asistencia, y prevención en la Medicina española contemporánea (PB97-0782-C03-01)—.
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MENÉNDEZ NAVARRO, Alfredo; OLAGÜE DE ROS, Guillermo; ASTRAIN GALLART, Mikel. Ciencia, positivismo e identidad nacional en el Cono Sur: La participación argentina en los proyectos documentales contemporáneos (1895-1928). Hispania, 2002, 62 (1), 221-258.
Resumen
El objeto de este trabajo es analizar y reconstruir la participación argentina en los proyectos documentales científicos internacionales desarrollados a finales del siglo XIX y comienzos del XX. En él se presta especial atención a la creación de la Oficina Bibliográfica Nacional Argentina, ligada al Instituto Internacional de Bibliografía de Bruselas. El trabajo forma parte de un amplio proyecto destinado a explorar la incorporación latinoamericana a los desarrollos de la ciencia contemporánea a través de su participación en las redes de comunicación científica creadas en la época. Dicha participación no puede entenderse únicamente como producto de las necesidades documentales de las comunidades científicas o de la difusión del pensamiento positivo sino que debe ponerse en relación, así mismo, con el fenómeno del nacionalismo y los procesos de construcción de la identidad nacional. Además de aspectos locales, la participación argentina en dichos proyectos estuvo mediatizada por los movimientos latinoamericanista y panamericanista.
Palabras clave: Argentina, historia de la documentación científica, Latinoamericanismo, Panamericanismo, Federico Birabén.
The aim of this paper is to analyse and reconstruct the argentinian participation in early twentieth-century scientific documentation projects. Particular attention is paid to the attempts to establish a National Bibliographic Bureau connected to the International Bibliography Institute in Brussels. This article is part of a wider study that aspires to offer an overview of the involvement of Latin America in world science through its participation in the main contemporary networks of scientific communication. Participation in such projects and networks not only corresponds to local scientists’ needs and the spread of positivism but it must be linked to nationalistic concerns and the process of construction of collective identity. In addition to local factors, Latin Americanism and Pan Americanism became both relevant trends in the development of scientific documentation initiatives in Argentina at that time.
Key Words: Argentina, History of Science Information, Latinamericanism, Panamericanism, Federico Birabén.
Este trabajo se ha beneficiado de sendas ayudas a la investigación de la DGICYT (Proyecto PB94-0784) y de la DGESIC (Proyecto PB98-1324).
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