Health, education and the brazilian amazon in the good neighborhood policy: The trajectory of alan fisher in brazil (1942-1945)

Abstract

After the World War II, Alan Fisher produced images in order to publicize the work of the newly created special service for public health (Serviço Especial de Saúde Pública - Sesp). The photographer was hired by the Office of Inter-American Affairs, an agency created to boost the so-called good neighborhood policy. More than the capture of Amazonian landscapes, Alan Fisher intended to portray a modern Amazon, in which science and health - made possible by the performance of doctors of the Sesp - would be the key elements in overcoming the peripheral condition in which the region was. Alan Fisher was also a war correspondent covering the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in Italy and traveled over the countryside of Brazil collaborating with the exhibition of educational films that intended to teach better healthful habits to these populations.