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Winter 2008, LSJ/CHID 332 Disability and Society: Introduction to Disability Studies. Look for the course website and readings on this page closer to the start of the quarter. The readings and assignments will be substantially different from previous offerings of the this course.

Spring 2007, HIST 290 / CHID 270 History of Eugenics (course website). The American eugenics movement (1900-1945) proposed and implemented a variety of policies for "improving the biological quality of the human race." These ranged from educational efforts such as "fitter family" contests to oppressive measures such as immigration restriction and compulsory sterilization of those deemed genetically unfit. The history of eugenics serves as a classic example of the influence of social values and interests on the direction of scientific research, as well as the social construction of human differences defined by race, gender, class, and disability. The comparative history of eugenics worldwide shows that eugenic thought was not monolithic. This course will examine the science and scientists behind eugenics, legislation and other proposed policies, public support and opposition, connections between American and Nazi eugenics, and the intersections between the disabled and other targeted categories of "socially undesirable" people. We will address the persistence of eugenic ideas and activities after WWII, especially the continuities and discontinuities between eugenics and modern-day genomics and genetic testing. Current bioethics perspectives range from the belief that there can be a "utopian" form of eugenics aimed purely at improving individual health and well-being, to arguments arising from feminism, anti-racism, and disability studies that "healthy" and "normal" are always subjective ideas based on discriminatory assumptions about what kinds of people we want in the world. This course has no prerequisites and is suitable for students in humanities and sciences.

Winter 2007, HIST 490B/C Topics in History: Biology, Society, and Human Diversity (course website). Explores episodes in the history of the biological and social sciences focusing on nature vs. nurture debates. Science makes authoritative claims about social issues such as gender roles, sexuality, racial differences, and disabilities. The prevalent theories and practices include intelligence testing, eugenics, pre-natal genetic testing, evolutionary psychology, and research on sex hormones, behavior, and cognitive differences. We will study these historical and contemporary examples of biological determinism, critiquing the evidence on which they are based and their political and ethical implications for social justice and diversity issues.

Spring 2006, LSJ/CHID 332 Disability and Society: Introduction to Disability Studies, co-instructor with Dennis Lang (course website) (syllabus in Word)