Resignifying hygienic concepts: the establishment of a sanitation authority in Buenos Aires in the 1880s

Abstract

The late nineteenth century saw the establishment of a sanitation authority in Buenos Aires, grounded on the ideas of nineteenth century hygienics. The article focuses on the scientific, technical and political innovations that were introduced and on the role that the process of medical professionalization played within this institution. The features of the sanitation policy that came to prevail in Buenos Aires at the turn of the century helped shape a system of standards and archetypes regarding the human body and its physical and mental well-being.