Marius Turda Talk and Exhibition: "On Eugenics and Dehumanisation"

Please join us for a talk by Marius Turda, and an exhibition and reception to follow. In this talk, Dr. Turda argues that we should not treat eugenics as a historical 'anomaly'. It was no 'deviation' from modern scientific norms, or the obsession of a handful of rogue scientists. Neither was it simply the ideological version of a rasist social Darwinism that found its most abominable expression only in Nazi policies of genocide. This is the oft-told story. But it distracts attention from how, for more than a century, eugenics had distinctly shaped the modern ideal of an 'able' and 'normal' society. In so doing, it targeted individuals who were seen as representing a different, and less-able, humanity. Eugenic propaganda instilled the need to ‘purify the race’ of Jews, Roma, and other ethnic minorities alongside the eugenic necessity of eliminating ‘defectives’ from society in many European countries during World War II and even before. In Nazi Germany, these 'undesirables' were called ‘lebensunwertes Leben’: lives deemed ‘unworthy of life’. As I discuss here, eugenics prioritised the life of individuals deemed hereditarily healthy and worthy, whilst simultaneously dehumanising, stigmatising, marginalising and ultimately eliminating those individuals deemed less so. Unfortunately, this normative eugenic representation of 'human value' did not vanish after the Holocaust. It remains deeply embedded in our thinking about difference to this very day. As we continue to fight for racial equality and social justice, we should try to understand past and present ideas of eugenics. We must confront and expose them to move forward.