The ape, the akka and the madman: readings of evolutionism in "Dos partidos en lucha" by Eduardo L. Holmberg and "La ciudad y los locos"by Juan José de Soiza Reilly

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of evolutionism in Argentina at the end of the century as the articulating axis of state biopolitics. Understood as an authentic “technology of life” that decides which are the “lives to be rescued”, the biopolitical thought together with the new evolutionist currents served the intellectuals of the establishment to consolidate the discourse of progress in Argentina, rationalizing the Desert Campaign carried out by Roca that led to the massive extermination of the original peoples. This politicization of scientific discourse is reflected in the fictions that arise around evolutionism understood as progress: between 1875 and 1914 two works, Two Parties in Struggle by Eduardo L. Holmberg and The City and the Mad, by Caras and Caretas journalist Juan José de Soiza Reilly represent the arc between the development, apogee and fall of evolutionism as State policy.