The art, the body and eating
Eugenic recommendations on food and beauty obtained from the collection of the Centro de Memória da Medicina de Minas Gerais
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2316-770X.2023.40669Keywords:
Art, Body, Nutrition, Eugenics, ScienceAbstract
In order to better understand the representation and configuration of the body, students and professors from a public university researched the collection of the Centro de Memória da Medicina. The researchers provided the selection of books that addressed the aesthetics and standards of the human body. During this process, the manner that nutrition appeared in eugenics and social hygiene texts should be highlighted. Eugenicists used inaccurate theories that were expanded to the universe of food, nutrition and body image. Based on these findings, we observe that the contemporary man, often deprived of science and art, significant pillars for critical reflection, envisions reaching, in an obsessive and senseless way, the man characterized as “perfect”, “robust” and “beautiful”. It is essential that the measures (metrom) capable of categorizing man (anthropos) are inclusive, plural, and complacent.Downloads
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