Focus on this artwork and explain the Background: Whitening (Branqueamento) and eugenics in Brazil.
In the nineteenth century, the idea of society "whitening" (Portuguese: branqueamento) spread in Brazil, as an ideology which sought to erase black features from the Brazilian population. During the first decades of the twentieth century, industrialization, immigration and urbanization brought a more pessimistic and nationalistic view to the country. The two world wars brought the expansion of nationalism, combining the idea of race with the construction of nationalities.In Europe, the idea of eugenics was held and disseminated by various scholars, including Francis Galton in 1883. Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, claimed that natural selection was also valid for humans. His belief was that intellectual capacity was not individual, but hereditary. His project analyzed the family trees of approximately 9,000 families, and came to the conclusion that non-handicapped white people displayed the best intellectual and social "performances" compared to those of other races and ethnicities. This pattern was based on the racialist thesis that the Europeans were the possessor of the greatest beauty, civilizational competence and health when compared to the "other races", the black (African), "red" (Indigenous) and "yellow" (Asian).The earliest records of eugenics in Brazil appeared at the end of the first decade of the nineteenth century. In 1917, the physician and pharmacist Renato Kehl, was responsible for expanding and disseminating eugenics in Brazil. Kehl believed that the only way for the country to thrive was through a project that focused on the predominance of the white race and the whitening of the black population. In addition to segregation by skin color, his discourse also supported the exclusion of the disabled (either physical or mental) from society. He also defended the sterilization of criminals, the regulation of a prenuptial examination (to ensure that the bride was a virgin), examinations to ensure divorce if the woman had "illegitimate children" or had proven hereditary defects in her family, compulsory eugenic education in schools and test to measure mental capacity in children 8 to 14 years old. Kehl presented his thoughts in various congresses, and had an impact on groups of teachers, physicians and adherents of racial hygiene. Thus, in 1918, was founded the first eugenic society of Latin America, the Eugene Society of São Paulo (SESP). Some well-known names were part of the group: Arnaldo Vieira de Carvalho, Olavo Bilac, Alfredo Elli, Belisário Penna, Vital Brazil, Arthur Neiva, Luís Pereira Barreto, Antonio Austregésilo, Juliano Moreira, Afrânio Peixoto and Monteiro Lobato.
In subsequent years, eugenics aroused the interest of the Brazilian elite, who created the stigma of the "Brazilian man", excluding all those who did not fit in with what was idealized by them. There was a belief that the movement would promote a reform in the aesthetic, hygienic and moral values of Brazilian society. At the time, the ideal brought forth an even more patriarchal society. Here, women had the simple role of "procreating" and performing the domestic tasks assigned by her husband. The "national identity" crossed limits and brought to light the racism present in the upper strata of Brazilian society.
patriarchal society family trees Afrânio Peixoto Monteiro Lobato racial hygiene eugenics racialist Juliano Moreira Branqueamento Charles Darwin Antonio Austregésilo virgin ideology national identity races whitening intellectual non-handicapped Francis Galton white people world wars Vital Brazil Portuguese Olavo Bilac