DOCTOR TITO LIVIO DE CASTRO: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE LIFE TRAJECTORY OF AN UNEXPECTED BLACK PHYSICIAN IN THE CAPITAL OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRAZIL

Abstract

Tito Lívio de Castro (1864-1890) was a black Darwinian physician who lived in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century and who passed away prematurely due to tuberculosis when he was only 26 years old. He was literate by his godfather, Manoel Paes, who created him when he was abondoned at his door at a young age. His formal education, on the other hand, began at Liceu Comercial, following to the renowned Colégio Pedro II, where he graduated in Languages (1883). In 1884, he began his higher education at the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro, having graduated and finishing his doctorate in 1889. His doctoral thesis, developed next to the discipline of Psychiatry, Das allucinações e ilusões, was very well received and praised, opening possibilities to occupy prominent jobs. Of his intellectual production, there are still two books that were published posthumously:  A mulher e a sociogenia (1893) and Questões e problemas (1913). Considering these studies produced by Doctor Tito Lívio, in this article, we aim at analyze his writings, showing that, although he was Darwinian and an epigone of Sylvio Romero, when he looked at the psychology of women, he sought to unveil female psyche, bringing an innovative interpretation of women, since the young physician chose to study female brain and not the female womb and her reproductive system, as usual at this time, which has demonstrated  the possibility of female evolution, if properly stimulated by Education. He also countered the stereotypes that saw them as people moved, above all, by emotion. For the development of this article, we have based ourselves on diversified documents about Tito Lívio's life trajectory and, as mentioned before, regarding his intellectual production. Thus, we sought to provide information about social subjects, particularly Tito Lívio, who has lived in the context of the last years of the century, explaining his protagonism in society, in which scientific racism has predominated and an extremely negative view of the black population.