Racism, eugenics, and hygienism: critical reflections based on the documentary Brazilian Holocaust
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0259.2026.e108778Keywords:
racism, eugenics, hygiene, hospital colony, social workAbstract
This essay presents a critical reflection on the relationship between racism, eugenics, and hygienism in the formation of Brazilian society, considering Marx's critical social theory. It is based on a literature review, articulated with a documentary methodological framework, using the documentary Holocausto Brasileiro as an empirical mediation. The results of the reflection indicate how the articulation between racism, eugenics, and hygienism shaped the Brazilian scientific, institutional, and state apparatus throughout the 20th century, re-emergencing in new forms in the 21st century. It argues that the more than 60,000 deaths that occurred at the Barbacena Colony Hospital were not the result of chance or isolated instances of negligence, but express a social logic that naturalizes the violation of human rights and the elimination of subjects socially classified as “undesirable”.
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