

Jess Whatcott, "Menace to the Future: A Disability and Queer History of Carceral Eugenics" (Duke UP, 2024)
Sep 7, 2024
Jess Whatcott, an author exploring the ties between disability institutions and eugenics in the US, discusses a haunting history of carceral eugenics. They reveal how early 20th-century eugenic ideologies justified forced sterilizations and coercive treatments, still resonating in today’s incarceration practices. Whatcott emphasizes the genealogy of resistance from disabled communities and the need to challenge these oppressive systems. The podcast dives into the intersection of queerness and disability, analyzing how societal categorizations continue to stigmatize marginalized groups.
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Intro
00:00 • 2min
Carceral Eugenics: A Deep Dive
01:32 • 15min
Exploring Disability and Queerness as Methodological Approaches
16:11 • 3min
Categorizing the Defective Class: State Stigmas and Social Implications
19:07 • 4min
Confinement, Racialization, and Eugenics
22:45 • 13min
Labor, Economics, and Eugenics
35:54 • 6min
Eugenics and Utopian Ideals
42:14 • 16min