Social Engineering and Modernity: The Impacts of Social Darwinism and Eugenics in the Intellectual Context of Brazil and Portugal [English version]

Aiming to deepen the understanding of the influences of social Darwinism and eugenics in the Portuguese and Brazilian contexts, the organizers of this dossier started an investigation process during the 9º Congresso Internacional de Antropologia da Asociación de Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red — AIBR (9th International Anthropology Congress by the Asociación de Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red), held at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM — Universidade Nacional Autônoma do México) in August 2023. The theme panel organized by Daniel Florence Giesbrecht, entitled “Os Limites da Antropologia: Impactos do Darwinismo Social e da Eugenia nas Propostas de Engenharia Social entre os Finais do Século XIX e Meados do Século XX” (The Limits of Anthropology: Impacts of the Social Darwinism and Eugenics in Social Engineering Proposals in the Late 19th and Mid-20th Centuries), aimed to foster an integrated analysis of these issues. The main purpose was to enable the presentation of studies that addressed both transdisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity promoting a broader and fluid approach regarding the consequences of such concepts in their most diverse aspects. Considering the Panel success, evidenced by the commitment shown by the participant researchers, the quality of the works presented, and the discussions carried out, we concluded that the publication of such contributions is extremely valuable. It also create the possibility of gathering other authors, whose studies are fundamental to the theme proposed. Therefore, we are pleased to present the Dossier “Social Engineering and Modernity: the Impacts of Social Darwinism and Eugenics in the Intellectual Context of Brazil and Portugal”, which has just been published.