Monuments of progress : modernization and public health in Mexico City, 1876-1910 / by Claudia Agostoni.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Agostoni, Claudia.

Series:

Latin American and Caribbean series 1498-2366 ; 4.

Latin American and Caribbean series, 1498-2366 ; 4

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sanitary engineering--Mexico--Mexico City--History.

Sanitary engineering.

Public health--Mexico--Mexico City--History.

Public health.

Monuments.

History.

Mexico City (Mexico)--History.

Mexico City (Mexico).

Monuments--Mexico--Mexico City--History.

Mexico--Mexico City.

Physical Description:

xvii, 228 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Calgary : University of Calgary Press, [2003]

Summary:

In this groundbreaking book, Claudia Agostoni examines modernization in Mexico City during the era of Porfirio Diaz. She outlines the relationship of "enlightened" ideals of orderliness and hygiene to Mexican initiatives in public health. The implementation of new health policies and programs--such as the construction of a drainage system for the Valley of Mexico--were of utmost importance for the symbolic legitimization of Porfirio Diaz's durable regime (1876-1910), which emphasized modernization over individual rights and liberties. Thus, projects involving drastic engineering measures, authoritarian sanitary administration, and urban improvements were paramount in transforming the city into a healthy environment. Providing detailed analyses of the objectives and activities of the Superior Sanitation Council and, in particular, the work of the sanitary inspectors, Monuments of Progress provides a fresh take on the history of medicine and public health, shifting the emphasis away from the history of epidemic disease and the heroes of medicine to public health in a broader social framework. Agostoni's unique study builds on a small but fast-growing body of literature on the history of public health in Latin America, and it will appeal to scholars with an interest in medical history, urban history, and the history of nineteenth-century Mexico.

ISBN:

1552380947

155238103X

0870817337

0870817345

OCLC:

51495264