For some years, the field of STS has focused on the need to write transnational connected narratives, based on a reciprocal treatment of global and local contexts that describe the dynamics of scientific practices to explain the role of transnational exchange networks and the circulation of scientific knowledge, people, artifacts and practices.
This talk explores on the one hand, the genesis of scientific conceptions of race in Mexico and their accompanying impact on the racialization of bodies in eighteenth century and on the representation of Homo sapiens in nineteenth century. Both, the racialization of bodies and the reconstruction of human ancestry produced several visual representations which circulated in both a local and a global framework. This circulation of novel representational modes strongly influenced debates on race and national identity formation, especially during the nineteenth century when the term “mestizo” powerfully appeared in the political discourse as a symbol of identity in the formation of the Mexican Nation State and as a homogenizing center of national identity.
On the other hand, I will talk about some representational practices related to the reconstruction of human ancestry in Mexican popular visual culture. Its aim is to show first, the lasting impact and power that both early and biased western visualizations of human ancestry have had in contemporary scientific education in Mexico; and second, the influence of non-Darwinian thinking of early twentieth century in Mexican representation of evolutionary theory. This in turn seeks to enlighten the global dynamics that shaped and reshaped local narratives.
