Charlene Galarneau, PhD, MAR
Presented on Wednesday, September 20, 2023 – 4:00 PM MST
Watch this webinar: https://bit.ly/48F33VV
Dominant narratives of US eugenics portray a by-gone era, led by academic elites promoting pseudo-science, and concluding when the harms of Nazi eugenics became known. Emerging critical analyses reveal a more complex history entailing diverse eugenic experiences by race, ability, gender, indigeneity, and national origin that reflect a mutable, multilayered eugenic logic that endures to the present day. Bioethics has a role to play both in addressing past harm (what is a just response?) and in identifying and analyzing eugenic features present today in genetic technologies, reproductive health care, as well as land conservation and immigration policy. Considerations of who is “fit” continue to enervate social, political, and health care decision-making in the U.S.
Learning Objectives:
After this session, attendees will be able to:
- understand the ways social inequities (e.g. racism) undergird U.S. eugenics,
- identify expressions of eugenics logic in the present day, and
- articulate ways that bioethics can contribute to a non-eugenic future.
