This group examines the history of the evolutionary synthesis of genetics and natural selection, and its impact upon agriculture, and theories of race and eugenics.
Speaker Marcelo Monetti Pavani M.A. in Science Education, University of São Paulo (PIEC-USP) Affiliated with LaHBE-USP
Presentation “Spencer, Lamarck e a angústia da influência” [“Spencer, Lamarck, and the Anxiety of Influence”]
In this presentation, Pavani will discuss aspects of Herbert Spencer’s evolutionary theory, with particular attention to the distinctive way in which Spencer appropriated ideas from Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and addressed Lamarck’s influence on his own theoretical framework.
Presentation: "The captain’s social policy: Bolsonarism, neo-Malthusianism, eugenics, and militarization in Brazil"
The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
Suggested Readings:
Ferreira, G. C. (2024). The captain’s social policy: Bolsonarism, neo-Malthusianism, eugenics, and militarization in Brazil.Serviço Social & Sociedade, 147(2).
Presentation: "How General Could an (Evolutionary) Theory Be?" The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
Suggested Reading:
"Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" Author: Theodosius Dobzhansky Source: The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Mar., 1973), pp. 125-129 Published by: National Association of Biology Teachers. Link to PDF
"Chapter 17: Practices of Generalization in Mathematical Physics, Biology, and Evolutionary Strategies" Author: Evelyn Fox Keller (Attached)
To learn more about Dr. Cortese, please click here: Google Scholar.
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Speaker: Mateus Costa Claro Molina Master’s Student in the Graduate Program in Comparative Biology University of São Paulo Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters of Ribeirão Preto
Presentation: "Trofim D. Lysenko: From Vernalization to the Phasic Development of Plants." The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
Suggested Reading: Please see the attached materials.
To learn more about Mr. Molina, please click here: Lattes Curriculum
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TBA
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Speaker: Prof. Francesco Cassata Full Professor in Contemporary History, University of Genoa Presentation: "Reconstructing 'Dante's Race': Fabio Frassetto and the International Committee for Anthropological Standardization (SAS)." The lecture will be delivered in English. Suggested Readings: Iris Clever, Jaehwan Hyun, Elise K. Burton, "People in Motion: Introduction to Transnational Movement and Transwar Connections in the Anthropological and Genetic Study of Human Populations", Perspectives on Science, 30, 1 (2022): 1-12. Link: https://direct.mit.edu/posc/article/30/1/1/108148/People-in-Motion-Introduction-to-Transnational
To learn more about Prof. Cassata, please click here.
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This session is postponed and will be rescheduled. Speaker: Dra. Ágata Ignaciuk Klemba (Spain) Full Professor, Universidad de Granada Department of Anatomical Pathology and History of Science Presentation: "Gendering Contraceptive Technologies in Communist Poland." The lecture will be delivered in English. Suggested Readings: Coming soon. To learn more about Dr. Ignaciuk Klemba, please click here.
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Speaker:
M.s. Daniel Florence Giesbrecht (Brazil) Researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Coimbra Guest lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FLUC/UC) Ph.D. candidate in the Contemporary History Program, University of Coimbra
Presentation:
“Divus vs. Galton: Eugenia Negativa e Catolicismo no Brasil nas Décadas de 1920 e 1930” [Divus vs. Galton: Negative Eugenics and Catholicism in Brazil during the 1920s and 1930s]
The lecture will be in Portuguese.
Suggested Reading [Portuguese]:
1 - GIESBRECHT, Daniel Florence. Eugenics and Catholicism in Brazil: a study based on Catholic intellectual production in Rio de Janeiro in the decades of 1920 and 1930. In Revista de História Regional, v. 29, 2024. Link.
2 - WEGNER, Robert; SOUZA, Vanderlei Sebastião de. Negative eugenics, psychiatry, and Catholicism: Debates around eugenic sterilization in Brazil. História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos, v. 20, pp. 263-288, 2013. Link to PDF.
3 - VELLOSO, Mônica Pimenta. A Ordem: A journal of political doctrine and Catholic culture. Revista de Ciência Política, v. 21, n. 3, pp. 117–160, 1978. Link to article.
Dr. Guilherme Prado Roitberg (Minas Gerais, Brazil) Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Minas Gerais (IFMG), Brazil Postdoctoral Researcher in the History of Science at the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC/Fiocruz), Brazil
Presentation:
"É preciso arredondar os olhos do japonês": eugenia e miscigenação na obra "Aspectos íntimos do Japão" (1952) de Salvador de Toledo Piza Júnior.
["It's Necessary to Round the Japanese Eyes": Eugenics and Miscegenation in the Work "Intimate Aspects of Japan" (1952) by Salvador de Toledo Piza Júnior.].
2- Edméia de Almeida Cardoso Coelho, Maria de Fátima Gomes de Lucena, and Ana Tereza de Medeiros Silva, “O planejamento familiar no Brasil no contexto das políticas públicas de saúde: determinantes históricos,” Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 34:1 (2000), pp. 37–44. https://www.scielo.br/j/reeusp/a/GrTf3vFznTHzrbmnDHQHtDP
Explore Previous Works: To learn more about Dr. Weinberg, please click here.
Join us for this engaging discussion!
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Speaker: M.Sc. Lucas Carvalho do Nascimento Nogueira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). PhD student in the Graduate Program in History of Sciences and Health, Fiocruz — Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC). Professor at the Department of Education of the State of Minas Gerais.
Presentation: "Aprenda a planejar a sua família, o nascimento dos bons: controle populacional no Brasil, 1961-1993.” [“Learning Family Planning, Birthing the Better: Population Control in Brazil, 1961-1993.”].
2- RAMSDEN, Edmund. Confronting the Stigma of Eugenics: Genetics, Demography and the Problems of Population: Social Studies of Science, December 2009, Vol. 39, No. 6 (December 2009), pp. 853-884. Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20506743/
4- BHERING, Marcos Jungmann Controle de natalidade no Brasil: um estudo sobre o Centro de Pesquisas e Assistência Integral à Mulher e à Criança (1975-1994). Tese (Doutorado em História das Ciências e da Saúde) – Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, 2014. 202 f. Cap 04 – páginas, 129-156. https://ppghcs.coc.fiocruz.br/images/dissertacoes/teste/tese_marcos_bher...
Explore Previous Works: To learn more about M.Sc. Nogueira, please click here.
The presentation will be in Portuguese.
Join us for this engaging discussion!
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Dr. Leonardo Dallacqua de Carvalho (Brazil) Graduate Program in History at State University of Maranhão - UEMA, Brazil. PhD in History of Sciences at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (2019).
Presentation: “Eugenics e (Hi)story-play-spaces: jogos eletrônicos e eugenia nas narrativas históricas". [Eugenics and (Hi)story-play-spaces: Electronic Games and Eugenics in Historical Narratives].
Explore Previous Works: To learn more about Dr. Carvalho, please click here.
Join us for this engaging discussion!
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Speaker: Dr. Mércio Pereira Gomes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Anthropologist, Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ, Brazil.
Former President of Funai (National Indigenous People Foundation) from 2003 to 2007.
Presentation: “Genética: a última fronteira para se entender os povos indígenas e sua mestiçagem no Brasil".
[Genetics: The Final Frontier in Understanding Indigenous Peoples and Their Miscegenation in Brazil].”
Suggested Readings:
1—Gomes, M. P. (2019). O Brasil Inevitável: Ética, Mestiçagem e Borogodó. Topbooks. Read Book.
2—Gomes, M. P. (2012). Índios no Brasil. Contexto. Read Book.
Explore Previous Works: To learn more about Dr. Gomes, please click here.
William deJong-Lambert is a Professor of History at Bronx Community College, CUNY who will be spending the spring semester 2025 teaching at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul as a Fulbright scholar while researching a biography of Theodosius Dobzhansky.
Paula Habib
Paula Habib is a Professor of History at the Federal University Fluminense (UFF/Brazil). Habib´s research specializes in history of agriculture, genetics, history of biology and eugenics during the first decades of the 20 th century. She holds a Ph.D. in History of Science and Health by Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Marcelo Lima Loreto
Marcelo Lima Loreto is a science journalist and historian of science who writes for Folha de S.Paulo and other media outlets. He was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University’s Institute of Latin American Studies (2022–2023) and a Research Fellow at the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (2021–2022). He received his Ph.D. in the History of Science from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 2019. His work examines the history of evolution, heredity, and the life sciences in Brazil. Dissertation here: http://bibcegos.nce.ufrj.br/hcte/docs/teses/2019/marcelo_lima_loreto.pdf
