Medical Photography, Hysteria, and Tensions of Modernity in Early 20th Century Argentina

Rebecca Wey, University of Arizona

This paper considers turn of the century photographic representations of hysteric patients in an Argentine medical journal. Medical photography, along with the standardization of anthropometric measurements and case histories, is part of a set of technologies to scientifically represent the hysteric patient in objective, transparent terms. From the start, this use of photography as a realist representation is troubled by the medium’s susceptibility to manipulation, a potential that was well known at the time, and the fact that physicians themselves manipulated hysteric patients as part of their diagnostic process and treatment. I explore tensions visible in photographs that, on the one hand, purport a transparent representation of reality, and on the other hand, are clearly staged: portraits of patients who have been theatricalized, made to adopt a repertoire of poses by the physician to be rendered legible as hysteric. Debate about whether the hysteric simulates her symptoms or suffers real pathology finds a counterpoint in the physician, who, via hypnosis and suggestion, assists the patient in assuming the postures of the hysteric.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 141. Medical Photography, Images, and Interpretive Power in the Americas: Gendered Perspectives