The Biology of Mario Canella: Science, Politics, and Racism in The
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THE BIOLOGY OF MARIO CANELLA: SCIENCE, POLITICS, AND RACISM IN THE AGE OF ITALIAN FASCISM Giovanni Bisi Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment to the requirements For the degree Master of Arts in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine Indiana University July 2021 ii Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Master's Thesis Committee _______________________________________ Sander Gliboff, Ph.D. _______________________________________ Domenico Bertoloni Meli, Ph.D. _______________________________________ Elisabeth Lloyd, Ph.D. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Sander Gliboff, for his aid and advice; the staff of the Biblioteca di Santa Maria Delle Grazie (University of Ferrara, Italy), for their invaluable aid in helping retrieve original sources despite the limitations of the pandemic; and my family for always being there for me. iv Giovanni Bisi The Biology of Mario Francesco Canella: Science, Politics and Racism in the Age of Italian Fascism Mario Francesco Canella was an Italian scientist active primarily before and during the Italian fascist period and the second world war. His writing is notable for an early period dedicated to a firm defense of Lamarckism and opposition to Darwinism, followed by an abrupt shift beginning in the 1940s to an almost exclusive focus on racial science and eugenics. Following the end of the war, his writing shifts again to a much narrower focus on microzoology, and does not revisit either of his earlier themes. At first, these shifts appear driven purely by political considerations, hinting that Canella repeatedly modified and abandoned his views to fit changing political climates. However, while his second shift away from racial science shows evidence of this being the case, the two other periods demonstrate much stronger theoretical links, and the original shift into racial science is much more firmly rooted in beliefs expressed within Canella’s earlier writing. v Table of Contents Acceptange Page ............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... iv Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Mario Canella’s Early Biology ....................................................................................................... 5 Mario Canella’s Racial Theory ..................................................................................................... 29 Mario Canella’s Late Biology ....................................................................................................... 40 Responses ...................................................................................................................................... 42 Analysis and Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 44 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 57 Curriculum Vitae vi Introduction Mario Francesco Canella was an Italian biologist active during the early and middle twentieth century, beginning published activity early in the 1930s and continuing until his retirement in the 1970s. Canella followed a very unusual career path, establishing himself as a late supporter of Lamarckian theory and a critic of Darwinism, and later of the genetic theory of natural selection. This holdout of Lamarckism as far as the mid-twentieth century is in itself worthy of analysis, but becomes particularly interesting in light of how, with the rise of fascism, Canella involved himself into the racial theory and racism that came to dominate Italian academic thought until the end of World War Two. This shift is made most notable by the fact that the scientific racism of the early and middle twentieth century was deeply rooted in social Darwinism – Darwinism of the very same kind that Canella originally rejected. Canella was, at the time of his most active writing, a figure of not inconsiderable reputation in the field of Italian racial science. His writings were some of the most extensive studies of racial science performed by a single author and were widely read and cited, ultimately leading to an invitation to join the General Directory for Demography and Race as an advisor in anthropological matters. Despite this, secondary literature on Canella and his work is severely lacking, leading to a very limited overview of an influential figure in the development of Italian racial psychology. In addition, Canella’s academic history serves as an illustrative case study of the interaction between independent research and political influence, both in terms of how shifting political climates can facilitate the growth of preexisting research along specific and potentially dangerous lines and in terms of how researchers can come to consciously alter their stances and beliefs to reflect the political order of the day. 1 This paper’s purpose will thus be twofold. Firstly, it will explore the chronological development of Canella’s writings, in order to provide a clear picture of the various stages and applications of his beliefs at different times. This will serve to both prepare for the second aim and to create a cohesive summary of Canella’s life and beliefs. Secondly, it will analyze this development and attempt to determine how, or if, these different stages, as well as the contradiction between his effective social Darwinism and his vocal anti-Darwinism, can be reconciled to one another. The picture that emerges from this analysis is a complex one, showing the development of an academic who, over the course of his career, became highly compromised by political pressures, but whose transition into racial science was most probably greatly eased by the establishment of psychologically-driven racial theory in Italian academia. Mario Francesco Canella was born in Venice in 1898. He was part of a family of limited wealth and entered the working force early in his life, enlisting as a cabin boy on merchant ships which traded throughout the Mediterranean. In this period of employment he expanded the boundaries of his world, heading to India on three occasions. In his retrospective on Canella’s life, Luigi Boscolo attributes a lifelong sense of curiosity and observation to these early exposures to the wider world.1 Canella moved with his family to Bologna during World War I, where he continued to work while pursuing his studies. He graduated from Liceo Scientifico “Augusto Righi” in 1926 and afterwards enrolled in the University of Bologna’s Natural Science program, where he studied under Ercole Giacomini, a professor of vertebrate anatomy whom he greatly admired. In addition to the program’s courses, he also followed classes in the school’s departments of Medicine, 1 Luigi Boscolo, “Ricordo di Mario Francesco Canella (1898-1982)”, Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Ferrara vol. 9/10 (2006-2007), 5-27 2 Letters and Philosophy. Canella graduated magna cum laude in Natural Sciences in 1931 and, in 1933, earned a degree in Medicine with the same honors.2 An interim period followed where Canella turned down a number of university and medical positions, and during 1936 and 1937 spent time journeying through Europe to visit zoos, botanical gardens and museums in Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland, and England. In 1937, he accepted a position as lecturer of comparative anatomy at the University of Bologna, where he served as a secondary lecturer to the primary titular of the department, Prof. Pasquale Pasquini. Canella remained attached to the University of Bologna until the closing stages of World War II, after which he moved to Ferrara and obtained a post as a professor of zoology in the city’s university. He eventually became director of Ferrara’s Civic Museum of Natural History, which he reorganized, expanded and modernized. Simultaneously, he joined the faculty of the University of Ferrara, and received the Italian Medal of Merit for Culture and Art in 1972 for his contributions to the field of biology.3 He remained active within the University until 1973, whereafter he retired from teaching duties but remained the director of the university’s museum. He retired from this duty in 1978, and died in 1982 at the age of eighty-four.4 Mario Canella’s literature can be broadly divided into three periods: an early one, preceding the second world war; a middle, taking place during the conflict; and a late, covering the remainder of his career. The early period is marked by a combination of anatomical studies of animals and by theoretical writings on anatomy, biology, Darwinism, and Lamarckism. Racial theory and human biology instead dominate the middle period. Finally, the late period focuses on studies and descriptions of microorganisms, particularly ciliates, and on commentaries on Italy’s 2 Ibid. 3 Benevelli, di Luigi. “PSICHIATRIA E RAZZISMI Storie e Documenti Di Luigi Benevelli.” Mario Canella: Non Solo i