California Eugenics Legacies Project
Miroslava Chavez-Garcia
History
UC Santa Barbara
Susan Schweik
English
UC Berkeley
Participants
Chase Burton
Law and Society
Leiden University
Ryan Lee Cartwright
American Studies
UC Davis
Marcy Darnovsky
Center for Genetics and Society
Troy Duster
Sociology
UC Berkeley
Trevor R. Getz
African and World History
San Francisco State University
Isidro González
History
UC Santa Barbara
Elena Gutiérrez
Latin American/Latino Studies, Gender and Women's Studies
University of Chicago, Illinois
Bradley W. Hart
Media, Communications, and Journalism
California State University, Fresno
Benedict Ipgrave
University College London
Wendy Kline
History
Purdue University
Rebecca Kluchin
History
California State University, Sacramento
Ewa Barbara Luczak
American Literature and Culture
Warsaw University
Gina Maranto
Ecosystem Science and Policy
University of Miami
Karen Nakamura
Anthropology
UC Berkeley
Tony Platt
Center for the Study of Law and Society
UC Berkeley
Milton Reynolds
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Reynolds Consulting
Jonathan Simon
School of Law
UC Berkeley
Alexandra Minna Stern
American Culture, History, Women’s Studies, and Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Michigan
This is an interdisciplinary network of academics, educators, and members of the community working to understand the continuing legacy of eugenics in the State of California and bring these legacies to public awareness. In a time of resurgence of eugenic thinking, the group’s participants believe connecting California’s eugenic past to our present is an urgent project. Issues they seek to explore include: How was science used and misused in the name of “race betterment”? How does the California legacy impact health, medicine, human genetic science and technology, and education, among others? What can humanities bring to bear on these questions? And, how can California’s institutions of higher learning best reckon with their past affiliations with and promotion of eugenic ideas and practices? The objective of this residency is to organize collectively an online symposium in May 2021 examining specifically the legacy of California’s institutions of higher education—including UC, CSU, and private colleges and universities—in promoting, sustaining, and mainstreaming eugenics. The event will allow the group to disseminate their work in a public-facing, online format and to follow up with blog posts, online discussions, and resources, enabling connection with public audiences.
See news about the project: “Hundreds of forced sterilization survivors are owed money by California. Only a handful have received it”
