ciência do melhoramento racial: considerações históricas sobre a educação eugênica brasileira

Abstract

Defined by Francis Galton (1822-1911 as the "science of racial improvement", eugenics became popular among the influential Brazilian intellectual elite in the first decades of the Republic, aiming the biological-racial improvement of the population by combating the "degenerative threats" represented by blacks, mestizos, physically and mentally disabled. Considering this historical context and taking as a theoretical and methodological support a documentary research supported by the critique of instrumental reason, the article analyzes the intellectual production of the directors of the journal Boletim de Eugenia (1929Eugenia ( -1933: Renato Kehl, Octavio Domingues and Salvador de Toledo Piza Jr. It is investigated the political-ideological foundations of eugenic education in Brazil and its role in the spread of biological racism among the country's intellectual elite in the 1920s and 1930s. It is concluded that the conception of education of these authors goes beyond the sense of schooling and aligns with a broader intellectual project that envisioned the popularization of the science of racial improvement in Brazil. ResumoDefinida por Francis Galton (1822-1911) como a "ciência do melhoramento racial", a eugenia se popularizou entre a influente elite intelectual brasileira nas primeiras décadas da República, vislumbrando o aperfeiçoamento biológico-racial da população por meio do combate às "ameaças degenerativas" representadas por negros, mestiços, deficientes físicos e mentais. Considerando esse contexto histórico e tomando como