Graduation Semester and Year
2019
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in History
Department
History
First Advisor
Steven G Reinhardt
Abstract
The health reform movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth century impacted American and European societies in profound ways. These reforms, while usually represented in a national context, existed within a transatlantic framework that facilitated a multitude of exchanges and transfers. John Harvey Kellogg—surgeon, health reformer, and inventor of cornflakes—developed a transatlantic network of health reformers, medical practitioners, and scientists to improve his own reforms and establish new ones. Through intercultural transfer Kellogg borrowed, modified, and implemented European health reform practices at his Battle Creek Sanitarium in the United States. These transfers facilitated developments in reform movements such as vegetarianism, light therapy, sex, and eugenics. While health reform movements were a product of the modern world in which science and rationality were given preference, Kellogg infused his religious, Seventh-day Adventist beliefs into the reforms he practiced. In some cases health reform movements were previously semi-religious in nature and Kellogg merely accentuated an already present narrative of religious obligation for reform. These beliefs in salvific health reform centered around Kellogg's desire to perfect the human body physically and spiritually in an attempt to make it fit for translation into heaven.
Keywords
John Harvey Kellogg, Health reform, Vegetarianism, Sex, Religion, Light therapy, Eugenics, Transatlantic, Intercultural transfer, American health reform, European health reform, Cornflakes
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | History
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Loignon, Austin Eli, "Cornflakes, God, and Circumcision: John Harvey Kellogg and Transatlantic Health Reform" (2019). History Dissertations. 76.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/history_dissertations/76
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington