A Priest of Humankind or a Respectable Gentleman? The Self-Representation of Physicians in Neo-Imperial Spain (1820s–1880s)

Abstract

In our article, we analyse the image physicians presented of themselves in their professional discourse during the 19th century, to map the complex negotiation of their professional identity as, at the same time, elite, masculine, and essentially Spanish. We contrast this with the representations of physicians in the contemporary urban visual culture, in Spain and in Europe, as a space of transimperial circulation of discourses and images. Physicians strove to shape and control these representations, with limited success. Moreover, we pay attention to how colonial context shaped professional discourse. We introduce comparisons with the patterns of gendered redefinition of the medical profession in France, as this neighbouring country—which was also another global empire—was a constant point of comparison and reference for Spanish physicians, but also because French and Spanish physicians shared the same space of knowledge circulation, practices, and institutional models for centuries.

Keywords

• medicine
• Spain
• masculinity
• Cuba
• empire
• class