Between the examination of children’s bodies and the shaping of racial norms: Aspects of the activities of the são paulo state school medical inspection service

Abstract

This article analyzes aspects of the activities of the School Medical Inspection Service, an agency created in 1911 under the São Paulo State Sanitary Service and transferred in 1916 to the Secretary of Public Instruction. It focuses, more specifically, on the practice of the individual examination of students with the purpose of understanding the motivations behind these practices, the role they played in establishing standards of normality and abnormality, as well as their underlying racial tenor. To this end, its sources are articles published in the periodical Imprensa Médica, works written by the agency’s head physician, Balthazar Vieira de Mello, and the Anuários do ensino, the official publication of the General Board for Public Instruction.