title: Health statistics aren't born in a cabbage patch: Jesuits, political arithmetic, stigmergy and oligopticons.
abstract: By analyzing the content and network of production of a map from 1751, created by the circular mission of the Jesuits in Chiloé (an archipelago located off the southern coast of Chile), that contains birth, death and population data, this article discusses the role that health statistics play historically, philosophically, technically and sociologically. In doing so, the article seeks to comprehend the genesis of a process of production of data and references in order to debate what health statistics are composed of, what ends they are used for, what their connection is to the formation of collectives and the differential conditions of possibility that exist for producing statistics. We attempt to develop hypotheses that demonstrate statistics as a hybrid articulation between diverse elements, epistemological, biopolitical, historical and philosophical in nature, with facets at once religious and demographic, ontological and ethnic, scientific and governmental.
authors.affiliation: Physician-Surgeon, Doctor in Public Health. Assistant teacher, Escuela de Salud Pública, Universidad de Chile. Santiago, Chile. ycarvajal@med.uchile.cl
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Carvajal
authors.affiliation: Graduate in Philosophy, Doctor in Philosophy. Teacher, Universidad Mayor, Chile.
authors.forename: Tuillang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yuing
mesh_terms: D002410:Catholicism / Q000266:history*; D002677:Chile; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D049671:History, 18th Century; D006801:Humans; D062312:Islands; D008377:Maps as Topic; D010684:Philosophy; D011057:Politics; D008921:Religious Missions / Q000266:history*; D014798:Vital Statistics
keywords: Vital Statistics; Cartography; Chile