Breaking the silence : Palaeontology and evolution in La Vanguardia Española (1939-1975)
Florensa, Clara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Centre d'Estudis d'Història de les Ciències)

Date:	2013
Abstract:	All traces of evolutionary theories had been removed from the Spanish public sphere during the late stages of the Civil War and early Francoism. Darwin's books were cleared from the shelves of libraries and bookshops and evolutionism was replaced by creationism in primary and higher education manuals. In the public sphere, there was a mixture of concepts concerning evolution that were borrowed from different evolutionary theories, some of them outdated. Talking about evolution in the press meant talking in a nineteenthcentury manner about the ape origin of man, materialism and threat to the Catholic faith. In other words, evolution was something unpleasant and dangerous. In this context, certain Spanish palaeontologists went to considerable lengths to try and avoid all of this bad popular imaginary (linking it to Darwinism), and to rehabilitate evolutionism from a finalistic-theistic point of view, which fitted in well with the ideology of the Franco regime. This effort, which succeeded in bringing evolutionism back into the public sphere following a period of «evolutionary silence», was relegated to second place when a new period of regime openness came about. The more scientific jargon of genetics and Modern Synthesis, which was less conducive to origins and theological discussion, fitted in better with the aims of the new regime, thus changing public scientific authority from bones to genes. This paper highlights the ongoing process of the appropriation of evolutionary theory through the case study of the presence and treatment during Francoism of the theory of evolution in the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia Española.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Teoria evolucionista ; Darwinisme ; Franquisme ; Ciència i dictadura ; Ciència i premsa ; Teoria sintètica ; Evolutionary theory ; Darwinism ; Francoism ; Science and dictatorship ; Censorship ; Science and the press ; Synthetic theory ; Teoría evolucionista ; Darwinismo ; Franquismo ; Ciencia y dictadura ; Censura ; Ciencia y prensa ; Teoría sintética
Published in:	Dynamis : Acta Hispanica ad Medicinae Scientiarumque. Historiam Illustrandam, Vol. 33, Núm. 2 (2013) , p. 297-320, ISSN 2340-7948

Adreça alternativa: https://raco.cat/index.php/Dynamis/article/view/269164
DOI: 10.4321/S0211-95362013000200002

24 p, 154.9 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut d'Història de la Ciència (IHC)
Articles > Published articles > Dynamis
Articles > Research articles