Abstract

LIMA, Nísia Trindade  and  HOCHMAN, Gilberto. Not enough health, too many ants, this is what ails Brazil... Medical-sanitarian discourse and the interpretation of Brazil. Ciênc. saúde coletiva [online]. 2000, vol.5, n.2, pp. 313-332. ISSN 1413-8123.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-81232000000200007.

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to point out the central and enduring role played by medical-hygienist notations and texts and by the sanitarian movement in Brazil, between 1900 and 1930, in the reconstruction of national identity on the basis of the identification of disease as a distinctive element in the condition of being Brazilian; and second, to underscore their marked presence in the fundamental texts of the so-called phase of institutionalization of the social sciences in Brazil, which witnessed the creation of university programs in sociology and anthropology.

Keywords : Public Health; Social Sciences; Hygienism; Medical Sanitarian Discourse.