The Anti-Eugenics Project, seeks to excavate and examine the lasting effects of eugenics towards dismantling the politics of exclusion— the founding eugenicist ideology that some humans are “fit” and and others are “unfit”— continues to plague our society in the forms of racism, classism, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia and other forms of social tyranny.
The “Dismantling Eugenics: Legacies/Reckonings/Futures” digital convening was held from Sep 27 – Oct 2, bringing together bring together activists, artists, critical thinkers, cultural workers, organizers, and scholars to envision a future free from the insidious founding principles of the eugenics movement, which posited through pseudo-science that some human beings – largely white, able-bodied, heterosexual men – were “fit” while others were “unfit” that still plague modern society in the forms of ableism, classism, homophobia, misogyny, racism, transphobia, xenophobia and other forms of social tyranny today.
Over the course of the seven days, the Dismantling Eugenics convening acted as a counter centennial to the Second International Eugenics Congress, held at the American Museum of Natural History on September 25-28, 1921. Participants excavated the history of eugenicist thought, lifted up the cross-sectional movements working to counter the oppressive structures that propagate eugenicist ideals, and offered space to envision solidarity—thus presenting a counter narrative to the conference held 100 years ago.