The Path of Eugenics in Brazil: dilemmas of miscegenation

ABSTRACT

In the period covered by this chapter, eugenics presented itself as a heterogeneous intelectual and political movement, but this was not unique to the Brazilian experience, since it can be identified in other South American countries. Eugenics incorporated diagnoses and propositions related to environmental and social questions, as well as proposals for the control of reproduction, racial discrimination and immigration. One issue in particular predominated in this region there were constant attemps to find a solution to the dilemma first identified in the late nineteenth century concerning the possibilities of constructing a national state through the incorporation of a population characterized by large-scale miscegenation, as in the case of Brazil, or the significant presence of indigenous peoples, as in the Andean countries. These characteristics were considered by many as obstacles to any attempt to shape civilized nations on the continent