Regímenes e instrumentos de medición: Las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo XIX en México.

Today, we live in a quantified world made out of physical and social measurements, administered by states and sciences, based upon the implicit assumption that numerical measures ensure the elimination of the peculiarities and the whims of those who measure and of that which is measured. But, how is...

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Main Author: Laura Cházaro
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherches sur les Mondes Américains 2008-01-01
Series:Nuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/14052
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spelling doaj-a0783333c0084ca48430a0c9ff1704662021-10-05T13:05:43ZengCentre de Recherches sur les Mondes AméricainsNuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos1626-02522008-01-0110.4000/nuevomundo.14052Regímenes e instrumentos de medición: Las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo XIX en México.Laura CházaroToday, we live in a quantified world made out of physical and social measurements, administered by states and sciences, based upon the implicit assumption that numerical measures ensure the elimination of the peculiarities and the whims of those who measure and of that which is measured. But, how is it possible for corporal experience and spaces to be classified into precisely-measured standards? and, how is it that they define our ailments, that which we possess, and even what we are? In this paper, I inquire into the modern compulsion to quantify bodies and territorial extensions, by focusing on the knowledge and instruments of physicians at the National Academy of Medicine, and by juxtaposing them with those of engineers involved in surveying missions that mapped Mexico’s national territory. The measuring carried out by physicians and engineers cannot be isolated from the instruments that produce the measurements that medical diagnoses or topographies and plans demand; instruments seem as depositaries of precision and standardization. Their practices reveal that measuring does not begin nor end up in a cold, instrumental, mathematical mechanism, but rather in preconcieved norms, corporal disciplines and local knowledge giving all measurements a political face, and reflecting the values of the epoch and place that produced them. Here, we study the national project designed to control and administrate corporal, cultural differences and hierarchies, in a homogeneous national history and territory.http://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/14052medicineterritorial measurementsmeasuring instrumentsbodies
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Laura Cházaro
spellingShingle Laura Cházaro
Regímenes e instrumentos de medición: Las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo XIX en México.
Nuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos
medicine
territorial measurements
measuring instruments
bodies
author_facet Laura Cházaro
author_sort Laura Cházaro
title Regímenes e instrumentos de medición: Las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo XIX en México.
title_short Regímenes e instrumentos de medición: Las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo XIX en México.
title_full Regímenes e instrumentos de medición: Las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo XIX en México.
title_fullStr Regímenes e instrumentos de medición: Las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo XIX en México.
title_full_unstemmed Regímenes e instrumentos de medición: Las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo XIX en México.
title_sort regímenes e instrumentos de medición: las medidas de los cuerpos y del territorio nacional en el siglo xix en méxico.
publisher Centre de Recherches sur les Mondes Américains
series Nuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos
issn 1626-0252
publishDate 2008-01-01
description Today, we live in a quantified world made out of physical and social measurements, administered by states and sciences, based upon the implicit assumption that numerical measures ensure the elimination of the peculiarities and the whims of those who measure and of that which is measured. But, how is it possible for corporal experience and spaces to be classified into precisely-measured standards? and, how is it that they define our ailments, that which we possess, and even what we are? In this paper, I inquire into the modern compulsion to quantify bodies and territorial extensions, by focusing on the knowledge and instruments of physicians at the National Academy of Medicine, and by juxtaposing them with those of engineers involved in surveying missions that mapped Mexico’s national territory. The measuring carried out by physicians and engineers cannot be isolated from the instruments that produce the measurements that medical diagnoses or topographies and plans demand; instruments seem as depositaries of precision and standardization. Their practices reveal that measuring does not begin nor end up in a cold, instrumental, mathematical mechanism, but rather in preconcieved norms, corporal disciplines and local knowledge giving all measurements a political face, and reflecting the values of the epoch and place that produced them. Here, we study the national project designed to control and administrate corporal, cultural differences and hierarchies, in a homogeneous national history and territory.
topic medicine
territorial measurements
measuring instruments
bodies
url http://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/14052
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