August 2016
The paper Science and miscegenation in the early twentieth century: ’s debates and controversies with US physical anthropology, analyzes the Brazilian anthropologist Edgard Roquette-Pinto’s participation in the international debate on this topic.
Edgar Roquette-Pinto with indigenous children. Image from the book ‘Antropologia brasiliana – ciência e educação na obra de Edgar Roquette-Pinto’, organized by Nísia Trindade Lima.
In the United States and Europe the issue has generated heated debates due to its racist theories in part to defend imperialist interests in the African, Asian and American continents.
Written by the renowned Brazilia historian Vanderlei Sebastião de Souza, the paper focus on Roquette-Pinto’s interpretations of a group of anthropologists – Charles Davenport, Madison Grant, Franz Boasand – and on his controversies with them.
According to the article, his readings of these authors were politically selective; he adopted the arguments that best served the purpose of valorizing “Brazil’s mixed race” and refuted those that contradicted the idea.
From the author’s perspective, the various ways in which Roquette-Pinto adopted anthropological ideas should be seen as products of his political efforts to defend Brazil’s racial identity and to stress his anti-colonial position.
Read in our blog:
Roquette-Pinto’s viable, mestizo Brazil – Interview with Vanderlei Sebastião de Souza.
Eugenics and Education in Brazil – Interview with Jerry Dávila.
