It has often been argued that eugenicists were not real scientists, but almost all of their ideas were grounded in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century scientific discourse. Science is a social and a socialised endeavour. Scientists are people, and their work is embodied in the social and historical contexts in which they live. In this episode, Subhadra speaks to science historians and communicators who are experts in exploring and uncovering the stories around our science. Together they look at how eugenic thinking can be perpetuated, but also confronted by the stories we tell.
Transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/racism-racialisation/transcript-what-does-eugenics-mean-us-episode-1
This conversation was recorded on 23rd March 2021
Host: Subhadra Das, Critical Eugenics Researcher, UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre
Guests: Chiara Ambrosio, Associate Professor in History and Philosophy of Science in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies, with a special focus on the history of art and science. Chiara is one of the co-founders of Muso at IMPROPERA, the improvised opera production inspired by objects from science museums.
Emily Dawson is Associate Professor in Science Communication at UCL Science and Technology Studies. She was awarded The Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2020 for her work on the sociology of science and education, getting people to talk across the science/non-science disciplinary divide. Emily is the author of Equity, Exclusion & Everyday Science Learning, which was published by Routledge in 2019.
Rokia Ballo is part of the team who run Science London, a volunteer-led organization dedicated to training and enabling scientists and science communicators to employ equitable practise within their work. Science London have been nominated for the National Diversity Awards 2021.
Angela Saini is an award-winning writer, science journalist and broadcaster whose two most recent books tackle and challenge the inbuilt inequalities in the life sciences. In Inferior, she looked at the science of gender, and in Superior, she looked at the science of race.
Producer: Cerys Bradley
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
www.ucl.ac.uk/racism-racialisation/what-does-eugenics-mean-us
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