jwoiak@u.washington.edu
Office hours: Monday 1:30-3:00 and by appointment, Smith 204C

For more ideas about current-day medical-scientific ideas and practices that may resemble "eugenics" in some ways, browse the items on the website for my previous course on "Biology, Society, and Human Diversity."

All members of the class are invited to dinner, thanks to our auditor Gerry Hirsch, on Wed May 30, 7pm, at Buca di Beppo (701 9th Ave N, at the south end of Lake Union, website with map).

Schedule for May 21/23 has changed: we'll watch a documentary on genetics on Monday, (re)read the articles on disability, and look at some recent articles about prenatal testing for Down Syndrome. Then on Wed. we'll read and discuss some of the recent work on race and genetics.

Books about history of eugenics are on reserve at the Natural Sciences Library. See library webpage. These could be useful when looking for a paper topic and primary sources. Also consult the "extras" page for some primary and secondary sources.

"Doctors needed court order to keep Ashley small" (PI, May 8) and parents' response (blog link) and investigative report (pdf). Let's discuss in class -- why does WA require a court order to sterilize people with disabilities?

May 16 symposium in the Law School on the Ashley X case: "Ethical and Policy Implications of Limiting Growth in Children with Severe Disabilities" (link). All are invited to attend any part of this event. Some info on the case (Ashley Treatment) (Time Magazine) (parents' blog on the "pillow angel") (Disability community response) (Jeffrey Brosco editorial) (Nancy Grace CNN report)

No class meeting on May 16.

"South Park"" episodes on disability themes, free showing Thur May 17, 3:30 in Communications 120, sponsored by the Disability Studies Program with discussion (pdf flyer).

Essay #4 due M June 4, 5:30 via email, and oral report on W May 30 (Word)
Essay #3 handout, due W May 16, 5:30pm to Smith 204C (Word)
Essay #2 handout, due Apr 23 (Word)
Essay #1 handout, due Apr 9 (Word)
Syllabus (Word)

Mar 26 What is eugenics? Why does it matter?
Lecture slides (PowerPoint 1.5Mb)

Mar 28 Evolution and degeneration
READ: Diane Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, chapters 1 & 2 (pdf 430kb)Douglas Baynton, "Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History" (pdf 307kb)
Lecture slides on "Disability Studies" (PowerPoint 225kb)
Lecture slides on "Evolution and Degeneration" (Powerpoint 3.6Mb) to be continued on Apr 2.

Apr 2 British eugenics movement: science, class, politics
READ: Donald MacKenzie, "Eugenics in Britain" (pdf 2.7Mb)
Karl Pearson, National Life from the Standpoint of Science (pdf 420kb)
Lecture: finish Mar 28 material
Lecture slides on British eugenics movement (PP 300kb)

Apr 4 American eugenics: efficiency, race, citizenship
READ: Garland Allen, "The Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, 1910-1940" (pdf 1.5Mb)
Diane Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, chapters 4-6 (pdf 1.5Mb)
Today we'll talk about the British & American readings.
Lecture slides on American eugenics (PP 7.3Mb)
EXTRA primary texts

Apr 9 Menace of the feebleminded
ESSAY #1 due at start of class (handout)
VIDEO in class: Lynchburg Story
READ: Philip Reilly, "Involuntary Sterilization in the United States: A Surgical Solution" (pdf 2.8Mb)
H. H. Laughlin, "Calculations on the Working Out of a Proposed Program of Sterilization" (pdf 830kb) (here's the "Rate of Efficiency" chart he refers to--sorry about the poor quality pdf)
"Eugenics Apologies" (html)
(PP slides)

Apr 11 Race motherhood: gender, birth control, infant welfare
READ: Wendy Kline, "Motherhood, Morality, and the Moron" (pdf 340kb)
Margaret Sanger, Woman and the New Race (pdf 1Mb)
Lecture (PP slides)

Apr 16 Eugenics in popular culture
READ: Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement (browse website)
Albert Wiggam, The New Decalogue of Science (pdf 2.5Mb)
Martin Pernick, "Defining the Defective: Eugenics, Aesthetics, and Mass Culture in Early-20^th-Century America" (pdf 2Mb)
Michael Rembis, "Explaining Sexual Life to Your Daughter" (pdf 3.6Mb)
Lecture slides on Fitter Families and Black Stork (PowerPoint)

Apr 18 Eugenic feminism
READ: all of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (online version) (html file) or textbook

Apr 23 Involuntary sterilization: laws, agendas, narratives
ESSAY #2 due (handout in Word)
READ: Inmate Ward 8, "The Sterilization Spectre" (html)
Steven Noll, "Patient Records as Historical Stories" (pdf 1.4Mb)
J. H. Landman, "Whom Shall We Sterilize?" (pdf 500kb)
Philip Reilly, "Critics" (pdf 980kb)

Texts for Essay #2: choose one and compare with arguments from the required readings
James Trent, "To Cut and Control" (pdf 1.7Mb)
Allison Carey, "Gender and Compulsory Sterilization Programs in America, 1907-1950" (pdf)
Angela Gugliotta, "Dr Sharp with His Little Knife: Therapeutic and Punitive Origins of Eugenic Vasectomy, Indiana 1892-1921" (pdf)
Molly Ladd-Taylor, "Saving Babies and Sterilizing Mothers: Eugenics and Welfare Politics in the Interwar United States" (pdf)
Joel Braslow, "In the Name of Therapeutics: The Practice of Sterilization in a California State Hospital" (pdf)
Paul Lombardo, "Medicine, Eugenics, and the Supreme Court: From Coercive Sterilization to Reproductive Freedom" (pdf)

Apr 25 German racial hygiene: science, efficiency, national health
Video in class: Liebe Perla (1999)
READ: Sheila Weiss, "William Schallmeyer and the Logic of German Eugenics" (pdf 3Mb)
Gisela Bock, "Racism and Sexism in Nazi Germany: Motherhood, Compulsory Sterilization, and the State" (pdf 2.4Mb)
Handout on racial hygiene laws (pdf)

Apr 30 "Euthanasia" and the Holocaust
Video in class: In the Shadow of the Reich: Nazi Medicine (1997, available in Ode Media)
READ: Robert Proctor, "The Destruction of Lives Not Worth Living" (pdf)
Patricia Heberer, "Targeting the Unfit and Radical Public Health Strategies in Nazi Germany" (pdf 2Mb)
Suzanne Evans, "After the Atrocities" (2Mb pdf)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: browse "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race" (website), "Mentally and Physically Handicapped: Victims of the Nazi Era" (website)

May 2 Latin style of eugenics: progress, hygiene, identity
READ: Nancy Stepan, "Eugenics in Brazil" (pdf 2.8Mb)

May 7 West coast eugenics: transformations and legacies
READ: Molly Ladd-Taylor, "Eugenics, Sterilisation, and Modern Marriage in the USA: The Strange Case of Paul Popenoe" (pdf 240kb)
Alexandra Stern, "Sterilized in the Name of Public Health" (pdf 920kb)
Mark Largent, "The Greatest Curse of the Race: Eugenic Sterilization in Oregon" (html)

May 9 Southern eugenics: new revelations and meanings
READ: "Against Their Will" (browse website)
Johanna Schoen, "Between Choice and Coercion: Women and the Politics of Sterilization in North Carolina, 1929-1975" (pdf 140kb)
Betsy Nies, "Defending Jeeter: Conservative Arguments against Eugenics in the Depression Era South" (pdf 2Mb)

May 14 "Individual eugenics"? Disability and genetic testing
READ: Daniel Kevles, "Brave New Biology" (pdf) and "A New Eugenics" (pdf)
Adrienne Asch, "Prenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion" (pdf 1.4Mb)
Diane Paul, "Eugenic Anxieties, Social Realities, and Political Choices" (pdf 360kb)

Supplementary:
Ellen Brantlinger, "Historical and Theoretical Overview of the Eugenics Movement" (pdf 830kb)
David Plotz, "The Better Baby Business" (web link, Slate.com)

May 16 No class meeting
ESSAY #3 due (handout in Word) (this is a revised date, deliver hard copy to Smith 204C by 5:30pm, or request an extension in advance)

May 21 What kinds of people do we want in the world? eugenics and disability revisited
Video in class: DNA: Pandora's Box (PBS)
REREAD: Adrienne Asch, "Prenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion" (pdf 1.4Mb)
Diane Paul, "Eugenic Anxieties, Social Realities, and Political Choices" (pdf 360kb)
Also browse these recent items about genetic testing:
"Prenatal test puts Down Syndrome in hard focus" (NY Times, May 9)
"Parents speak to the upside of Down Syndrome" (Salon.com, May 9, and reader responses)
"Genetic testing + abortion =?" (HTML file fixed) (NY Times, May 13)
"Eugenics or freedom of choice?" (Salon, May 11, and reader responses)

Extra items: "Couple choose to have deaf baby" (BBC, Apr 8, 2002)
"Radio talk about TV anchor's disability stirs ire" (html, NY Times, Aug 23, 1991)
"Should Kirsten Johnson be allowed to have kids?" (pdf)

May 23 Race and genetics today
READ: [added later] Joseph Graves, "Retreat and Revival of Scientific Racism" (pdf)
"Summary of The Bell Curve" (pdf)
David Rotman, "Race and Medicine" (html)

Extra items: Bell Curve book table of contents (Word)
Philippe Rushton's scientifically-based racial rankings (pdf)
Links to more stuff on scientific racism and genetics of racial differences

May 28 No class

May 30 Oral reports (handout)

ESSAY #4 due, Monday June 4, 5:30pm, by email to jwoiak
(handout)