Segregation and extermination: eugenism revisited in the capital of São Paulo (2004-2017)
The eugenics movement emerged at the end of the 19th century in England, with the main precursor Francis Galton (1822-1911). In Brazil, its receptivity started from the 1917, whose main exponent was Renato Kehl (1889-1974). The eugenics ideologues bet on its effectiveness to eliminate the groups classified as abnormal, through birth control policies, arrests, physical elimination of undesirables, and other methods. When studying the manifestations of eugenics in the 21st century, especially after the decline of Nazism and in the context of the military dictatorship (1964-1985), it was found that in Brazil eugenics was effected through negative and preventive eugenics, therefore, the elimination of groups considered undesirable reflects the nature of the Brazilian ruling class. Even without assuming its “ideological” alignment with eugenic ideas, the Brazilian bourgeoisie could use state structures and apparatus to secure its class privileges. Thus, the present thesis aims to demonstrate how eugenics has manifested itself in contemporary times, after 1945, in particular, in the period 2004-2017, especially in Brazil. By studying the state initiatives concerning anti-drug policies, mass incarceration and police lethality, it was found that preventive and negative eugenics are expressed in these spheres. We sought to problematize the fact that although there have been changes regarding policies in Brazil during the administration of the Federal Government of the Workers Party, at the same time, there was a refinement of public security policy, which intensified the fight against drugs, led to mass incarceration and increased lethality of young black people resulting from police intervention. It is in these aspects that we sustain, in the present thesis, the permanence of contemporary eugenics.