3.00 Credits
Focuses on understanding the circumstances, individuals, and ideas that brought about eugenics and its implementation from its roots in the 18th century to the present. Based on a flawed application of biological thinking, and fueled by preexisting cultural, racial, socioeconomic, and philosophical biases, the eugenic movement resulted in widespread social engineering, sterilization laws, & ethnic cleansing and genocide. Students will consider its contributions to race science, as well as highlight the ways in which these continue to influence modern cultures. Effects on anthropology, psychology, and biological sciences are discussed. A central argument in the course is that eugenic ideals comprised a belief system that operated apart from biological realities in order to satisfy the desires of those who instigated and carried out its aims.(RE) Corequesite(s): Anthropology 590.Recommended Background: Anthropology 596.