Publication Date

Spring 2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Communication and Training

First Advisor

Jillian Klean Zwilling

Second Advisor

Lara Stache

Third Advisor

James Vining

Abstract

The Eugenic Society was a group of self-proclaimed "Race-Improvers" who came together intending to better humanity by founding The Eugenics Society and producing, "The Eugenics Review,” a publication that circulated throughout the United States from 1909 until 1968. Eugenicists wrote on diverse topics surrounding race betterment by introducing scientific methods that were both inhumane and injustice based on their parochial, perceived notions that inequalities are ubiquitous. Categories like religion, race, class, nationality, gender, and many others have been the sources of stigmatization, discrimination, and conflict throughout the centuries in the United States. Assessing the development of the eugenics movement is essential to recognize because its naïve assumptions and often flawed methodologies were unjustified and dangerous. Employing Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality to critically analyze the rhetorical language deployed by American eugenicists in, “The Eugenics Review” on their quest to race betterment for humanity in the United States.

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