From race to health in Master and slave

Abstract

The article analyzes how Gilberto Freyre addresses health-related issues in his book Master and slave. the first point of focus is how the sanitation movement that emerged in the sertão region in the late 1910s influenced Freyre's essay. The article next endeavors to understand the relation between Freyre's emphasis on the problem of syphilis in Brazil and the issues of race and miscegenation, both of which are constants in his works. Lastly, the article endeavors to situate Freyre's ideas within the ideological framework of eugenics that was in fashion in Brazil at the time his works were written.