"The Hour of Eugenics"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Nancy Stephan's work, "The Hour of Eugenics: Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin America," in which she illustrates effectively how race and gender were important tools in the building of nations in Latin America. The paper examines Stephan's arguments and discusses how it relates to the history of eugenics in Mexico and Argentina, in particular.

From the Paper:

"In Mexico, there was actually a short-lived experiment with sterilization based on eugenics. The Mexican Society of Eugenics was launched, in 1932, during what Stepan describes as a period of conservatism and political nationalism, a form of extreme patriotism. During this time fanatical declarations by political leaders had great impact. If the Mexican "race" was to be improved and not watered down, some members of the eugenics society declared, sex education was needed and even "eugenic sterilization."
"In 1921 sterilization in Mexico had already been implemented for criminals. And, by 1932, the fanatically anticlerical governor of Veracrux, Adalberto Tejada, authorized the first (and only) eugenic sterilization law in the nation. Tejeda's program of sterilization primarily targeted the Catholic Church than it was for any kind of pure race promotion, but it also was a program that was launched following the successful, science-backed, Mexican sterilization of improving the quality of livestock."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Stepan, Nancy Leys. 1991. The hour of eugenics: Race, gender, and nation in Latin America. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

More papers on "The Hour of Eugenics":

• Analytical Essay # 106528 : "Race, Gender, and Latin American Eugenics"
• Book Review # 108516 : "The Theme of Love in "The Hours"
• Analytical Essay # 15724 : "The Hour of the Star" by Clarice Lispector"

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