Reflections on Reductionism in the Historicization of Eugenics and the Possibility of its Revision
Reflections on Reductionism in the Historicization of Eugenics and the Possibility of its Revision
Author(s): Victoria ShmidtSubject(s): History, Anthropology, Social Sciences, Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life, Sociology, Social history, Modern Age, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Health and medicine and law, 19th Century, Book-Review
Published by: БАЛКАНИСТИЧЕН ФОРУМ - МЕЖДУНАРОДЕН УНИВЕРСИТЕТСКИ СЕМИНАР ЗА ПРОУЧВАНИЯ И СПЕЦИАЛИЗАЦИИ
Keywords: Eugenics; historical reductionism; colonial power; comparative history; entangled history
Summary/Abstract: The text reviews A History of British Eugenics since 1865: From Francis Galton to Designer Babies by David Redvaldsen. The book is read through the lens of the many challenges faced by those who historicize the legacy of eugenics. Two key tasks are posed: delineating the boundary-work that defines eugenics and demon-strating the meaningfulness of its historicization. The widely acknowledged ability of eugenics to penetrate the filters of any political ideology and epistemology is seen as a starting point for understanding its past, which is deconstructed in the process of working with the numerous dichotomies used in various historicizations. Working with an extremely narrow range of such dichotomies, Redvaldsen’s book provides a systematic example of the inevitable reductionism involved in revising the legacy of eugenics.
Journal: Balkanistic Worlds
- Issue Year: 1/2025
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 265-269
- Page Count: 5
- Language: English
