Modernism and Eugenics

In Pursuit of Greater Hungary: Eugenic Ideas of Social and Biological Improvement, 1940–1941

“…Ultimately, the nationalization of eugenics and its corollary, the biologization of national belonging, produced a new type of ideologue: the health expert who wished not only to control the life of the individual but also to shape the physical body of the nation. 148…”

Scandinavian Anthropology, Eugenics, and the Post-Colonial Geneticization of Sami Culture

“…Like Laestadius, Lundborg applied apocalyptic parables of death and renewal in an attempt to prove that Sami communities were a homogenous race and a threat to the host nation. As Marius Turda explains, [7] Lundborg focused on the protection of the individual and race to defend the nation from degeneration, which was the standardized view among Nordic eugenicists.…”

“…I suggest that Laestadius introduced an interpretation of Sami women as heritably susceptible to nervous disorders in a multi world-view knowledge system. Fluid boundaries between Christian and scientific eugenic theories endorse Marius Turda's [7] assertion that eugenics often reveals a scientific pathos that has its roots in organised religion. Moreover, that the use of race and racial classification constitutes one of the central principles associated with eugenics.…”

‘God and the Gene’: E.W. Barnes on Eugenics and Religion

“…Accordingly, themes explored by Barnes such as 'the sanctity of life,' 'individual liberty', 'scientific morality' and 'reproductive ethics', remain highly relevant today. 135 In recent decades the development of 'new genetics' has shifted the emphasis from the interwar eugenic idea of the 'national body' 136 to what Nicholas Agar has called 'Liberal Eugenics'. 137 Nevertheless, there remains a link between Barnes' eugenic ideas and modern debates on genetic engineering and human enhancement.…”