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Chapter Reference: Progress; Neocolonialism; Nationalism
Scientific racism, combining scientific methods and erroneous racist ideas, casts a pall over Latin American history in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Scientific racists began with the assumption that Europeans constituted a superior race and that other races constituted lower tiers of a racial hierarchy. Since Latin American populations were not primarily European in origin, scientific racism was very bad news for ruling classes not inclined to question prestigious doctrines emitted by intellectuals in the world's most advanced countries. One hope of Latin American rulers around 1900 was that races could be improved by conscious manipulation of various kinds. The science of racial improvement was called eugenics. "Whitening" populations was one mode of implementing eugenics. The strategy entailed attracting enough light-skinned (European) immigrants who, through the mixing of genes, would whiten the population. Harsher measures sometimes aimed to prevent reproduction among those of African and indigenous descent. The prestige of eugenics was on display at fairs and exhibits where skulls were measured to indicate the level of intelligence (the science known as phrenology), and where human specimens of the "lower orders" were displayed to gawking crowds. Though such practices may astound us today, they were in line with the science of the time, and science then, as well as now, commanded respect. Eugenics programs were carried out in the United States, too. A paper on eugenics should demonstrate a clear understanding of the doctrines of scientific racism and use primary sources to show how these were present in the thinking of Latin American elites and the policies of states around the turn of the twentieth century.
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- Scientific racism was part of the drive for "order and progress" during the neocolonial moment. Whose scientific work served as a foundation for the ideas of eugenics?
- How was eugenics practiced in different Latin American countries, and what led to its decline after 1930?
- Travelogues are valuable primary sources concerning the ways travelers (and, by extension, their audiences) understood the world. After exploring some of the bibliography on eugenics, pick a Latin American country around 1890 and imagine yourself as a visitor there from the U.S. Write an entry for a travelogue, making sure that eugenics figures in your comments.
Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places.)
** Dávila, Jerry. Diploma of Whiteness: Race and Social Policy in Brazil, 1917 1945. Durham:
Duke University Press, 2003.
Dávila's recent study explores the idea of whitening as it was applied in Brazilian public schools—through the mixing of gene pools, as well as through molding symbolic values that were more "white."
** Graham, Richard, ed. The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870—1940. With an introduction
by Richard Graham. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
The essays of this collection introduce scientific racism and its connections to social policy and conceptions of race in Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, and Mexico.
Lynn, Richard. Eugenics: A Reassessment. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001.
Though not focused on Latin America, the first part of this overview of eugenics provides a background to the science (from Europe) that led to scientific racism.
** Stepan, Nancy Leys. "The Hour of Eugenics": Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin America.
Ithaca, NY. Cornell University Press, 1991.
Students looking for a historical overview of eugenics in Latin America should begin with this short book. Stepan also provides a brief comparative perspective of eugenics in the U.S.
Wade, Peter. Race and Ethnicity in Latin America. London: Pluto Press, 1997.
The introduction and first two chapters of this book are most relevant for students looking at the problem of eugenics.
Other Resources:
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