The Hour of Eugenics" (eBook)

Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin America

Nancy Leys Stepan (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

1996
224 Seiten
Cornell University Press (Verlag)
978-1-5017-0225-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Stepan's warning regarding the politics of scientific interpretation in the future seems most appropriate.... This is an important book, meticulously done, and will be of significant value to Latin Americanists (especially Brazilianists), to historians of science and medicine and to those concerned with the history of ideas as well as those interested in the rise (and fall?) of eugenics.―American Historical Review

Eugenics was a term coined in 1883 to name the scientific and social theory which advocated "race improvement" through selective human breeding. In Europe and the United States the eugenics movement found many supporters before it was finally discredited by its association with the racist ideology of Nazi Germany.

Examining for the first time how eugenics was taken up by scientists and social reformers in Latin America, Nancy Leys Stepan compares the eugenics movements in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina with the more familiar cases of Britain, the United States, and Germany.

In this highly original account, Stepan sheds new light on the role of science in reformulating issues of race, gender, reproduction, and public health in an era when the focus on national identity was particularly intense. Drawing upon a rich body of evidence concerning the technical publications and professional meetings of Latin American eugenicists, she examines how they adapted eugenic principles to local contexts between the world wars. 

Stepan shows that Latin American eugenicists diverged considerably from their counterparts in Europe and the United States in their ideological approach and their interpretations of key texts concerning heredity.

Eugenics was a term coined in 1883 to name the scientific and social theory which advocated "race improvement" through selective human breeding. In Europe and the United States the eugenics movement found many supporters before it was finally discredited by its association with the racist ideology of Nazi Germany. Examining for the first time how eugenics was taken up by scientists and social reformers in Latin America, Nancy Leys Stepan compares the eugenics movements in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina with the more familiar cases of Britain, the United States, and Germany.In this highly original account, Stepan sheds new light on the role of science in reformulating issues of race, gender, reproduction, and public health in an era when the focus on national identity was particularly intense. Drawing upon a rich body of evidence concerning the technical publications and professional meetings of Latin American eugenicists, she examines how they adapted eugenic principles to local contexts between the world wars. Stepan shows that Latin American eugenicists diverged considerably from their counterparts in Europe and the United States in their ideological approach and their interpretations of key texts concerning heredity.

Autor

Nancy Leys Stepan is Professor of History at Columbia University.

Inhalt

Introduction: Science and Social Knowledge1. The New Genetics and the Beginnings of Eugenics2. Eugenics in Latin America: Its Origins and Institutional Ecology3. Racial Poisons and the Politics of Heredity in Latin America in the 1920s4. "Matrimonial Eugenics": Gender and the Construction of Negative Eugenics5. National Identities and Racial Transformations6. U.S., Pan American, and Latin Visions of Eugenics7. Conclusion: Science and the Politics of InterpretationIndex

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.11.2016
• Verlagsort: Ithaca
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Genetik / Molekularbiologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Empirische Sozialforschung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
• Schlagworte: beginnings of eugenics • better breeding • egenics • eugenetics • Eugenics • eugenics belief • eugenics culture • eugenics experiments • eugenics hereditary • eugenics history • eugenics ideas • eugenics in Latin America • eugenics latin america • eugenics medical • Eugenics movement • eugenics policies • eugenics practice • eugenics practices • eugenics racism • eugenics racist • eugenics science • eugenics scientists • eugenics social movement • eugenics social reform • eugenics theoretical • eugenics theory • eugenics trials • eugenics white supremacy • explain eugenics • germany eugenics • history of medicine • History of Science • idea of race • improving human race • Latin American History • latin american medical history • literature on eugenics • matrimonial eugenics • medical eugenics • medical history eugenics • Nazi eugenics • nazi germany eugenics • negative eugenics • new genentics • politics of eugenics • Race and Ethnicity in Latin America • Race relations eugenics • Race relations latin american • Race relations medical • racial domination • racial purity • racist practices • Social Theory • ugenics • uses of human heredity • what is eugenics • white supremacy
• ISBN-10: 1-5017-0225-4 / 1501702254
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5017-0225-9 / 9781501702259