HYGIENE, GENDER AND NATION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY ROMANIA

Within the Romanian socio-cultural and political space, hygiene developed during the 19th century and in close connection to both modernization and the nation state building processes. As argued in the first part of the article, at that time hygiene was not only a governmentality technique (Foucault) but also a significant means for conveying and legitimizing national ideology. Through an analysis of medical bibliographies from the second half of the 19th century as first-hand data, the study presents three of the most frequent themes within the hygiene literature imbued with national ideology: the peasantry, anti-Semitism and alcoholism. The last part investigates the embedded gender dimension of these writings, revealing the intricate links between nation building and the construction of gender identities. In this respect, it shows particularly how the hygienist discourse defines and publicly promotes maternity as a "natural destiny" and a "civic duty" of the women.