Thayná Vieira

Under the direction of Luc Berlivet

The thesis aims to address the centrality of the gender issue within the Brazilian eugenics movement in the first half of the 20th century, having as its main object of analysis the participation of women in Brazilian eugenics and the medical discourses on the roles and social functions of the sexes. Thus, this project seeks to hypothesize that women were not only the targets of eugenics policies, but also the actors of this movement. Breaking with the idea that Latin American women were only present in eugenics circles as assistants and mere objects of eugenics, I wish to argue that these eugenicists worked to strengthen their own moral authority and/or or their professional status.