Eugenic thinking in Australia: An Anti-Eugenics Centennial
Date/Time
9/3/2021 - 9/14/2021
10:00 PM - 11:45 PM Eastern
Event Type(s)
Event
Event Description

In this series of online panels, we explore eugenic thinking in Australasia, both past and present. 

Details
Eugenic Thinking in Australasia
Three Online Panel Discussions: September 2021
 
A series of two-hour, public panels exploring eugenic thinking in Australasia, past and present.
Please email lucia.neco@research.uwa.edu.au to register for one or more of the panels.
 
Eugenics is often thought of as a social movement ending around 1945 with the end of the Second World War. Whether or not one accepts this view of eugenics, eugenic thinking has a reach into contemporary thinking and public policy. Eugenic thinking is the confluence of a goal with a way of achieving that goal. The goal is intergenerational human improvement, increasing the balance of desirable over undesirable traits in human populations across generations. The means is the use of science, technology, and social policy in identifying such traits and in promoting improved future generations.
 
Despite the mantra of human improvement, eugenics often normalised the dehumanization and disposability of those with less desirable traits: those deemed “unfit”. Practices, institutions, and policies such as segregation, marriage restriction laws, compulsory sterilisation, immigration restriction laws, are part of the recognised eugenic past in many countries. Child removal practices, residential schools, and some uses of reproductive technologies both to select embryos with desired traits and to terminate fetuses with undesirable traits have all been claimed to manifest eugenic thinking.
Panel 1 (September 2/3):  Indigenous Australasia
Panel 2 (September 9/10): Immigration, borders, children, and citizenship
Panel 3 (September 13/14): Technologies and disposable people.
Participants include:
Panel 1: Joanne Faulkner, Peter Read, and Lynette Russell; Jane Lydon (chair)
Panel 2: Ruth Balint, Tim Calabria, Luara Ferracioli, and Matthew Lister; Rob Wilson (chair)
Panel 3: Jane Carey, Rob Sparrow, and Rob Wilson; Ruth Wallace (chair)
Eugenic Thinking in Australasia
Three Online Panel Discussions: September 2021
 
A series of two-hour, public panels exploring eugenic thinking in Australasia, past and present.
Please email lucia.neco@research.uwa.edu.au to register for one or more of the panels.
 
Eugenics is often thought of as a social movement ending around 1945 with the end of the Second World War. Whether or not one accepts this view of eugenics, eugenic thinking has a reach into contemporary thinking and public policy. Eugenic thinking is the confluence of a goal with a way of achieving that goal. The goal is intergenerational human improvement, increasing the balance of desirable over undesirable traits in human populations across generations. The means is the use of science, technology, and social policy in identifying such traits and in promoting improved future generations.
 
Despite the mantra of human improvement, eugenics often normalised the dehumanization and disposability of those with less desirable traits: those deemed “unfit”. Practices, institutions, and policies such as segregation, marriage restriction laws, compulsory sterilisation, immigration restriction laws, are part of the recognised eugenic past in many countries. Child removal practices, residential schools, and some uses of reproductive technologies both to select embryos with desired traits and to terminate fetuses with undesirable traits have all been claimed to manifest eugenic thinking.
Panel 1 (September 2/3):  Indigenous Australasia
Panel 2 (September 9/10): Immigration, borders, children, and citizenship
Panel 3 (September 13/14): Technologies and disposable people.
Participants include:
Panel 1: Joanne Faulkner, Peter Read, and Lynette Russell; Jane Lydon (chair)
Panel 2: Ruth Balint, Tim Calabria, Luara Ferracioli, and Matthew Lister; Rob Wilson (chair)
Panel 3: Jane Carey, Rob Sparrow, and Rob Wilson; Ruth Wallace (chair)
 
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9/3/2021 - 9/14/2021  


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