Eugenics and immigration selection: notes on the debate between Alfredo Ellis Junior, Oliveira Vianna, and Menotti Del Picchia, 1926

Abstract

This text analyzes the bill submitted by Alfredo Ellis Junior to the São Paulo legislature in August 1926, which would allow studies to be made of immigrants in São Paulo in order to orient immigration selection policies. It highlights the opinions of Menotti Del Picchia and Oliveira Vianna about the research agenda put forward by Alfredo Ellis Junior, focusing on the different conceptions about the race issue and immigration held in the 1920s. We suggest that Menotti Del Picchia's divergence from Alfredo Ellis Junior and Oliveira Vianna could be interpreted as a dispute between literati and scientists over the legitimacy of their respective knowledge about the Brazilian reality and the proposal of policies for the country.