Muerte en Exhibición. Necrológicas en el Boletín del Instituto Geográfico Argentino

The article analyses 14 obituaries of men of science that appeared in the journal Boletín Geográfico Argentino between 1889 and 1910. It is argued that together they form a pantheon of memorable bodies that stands out in contrast to other bodies, namely those that, at the same time and by the same men, are being collected for the museums of natural history. The focus of the article lies on how the figure of the scientist is constructed through a series of recurrent themes, such as laboriosity, productivity and devotion to the nation. These, contrasted with other articles in the magazine, help us visualize the practices of power and of knowledge embedded in the genre. The discussion raises questions about the tensions between the private and the public as well as those between the individual and the community. The analysis shows that although the worthiness of a place in the pantheon of memorable men is closely linked to the exercise of violence in the name of a nation and in the name of science, this exercise is silenced at the moment of exhibiting death in the studied obituaries.

Palabras claves: siglo XIX; ciencia y literatura; muerte; tema; silencio; nación