Queer and Disabled Afterlives of Racial Eugenics

Abstract

This dissertation paints a picture of resistance, joy, hope and desirability of racialized, queer disabled subjectivity in a society that is built on the ability to breed out these “undesirable” traits through positive and negative eugenic and newgenic means. By interrogating the presumed fixity of dating and hook- up ‘preferences’, the institution that is marriage, child bearing and rearing and the construction of the ideal family, we can become more critical of these systems both in the scholarship and also our personal choices. I have argued that the ways in which we engage our sexual subjectivities is heavily influenced either consciously or unconsciously by these eugenic ideals. Additionally, I have presented the ways that discussing eugenics through discrete lenses do us a disservice especially as we try to dismantle these ideals through our organizing and activism. Integrating personal anecdotes, archival work as well as employing various methodologies, this dissertation challenges us to think about the interconnectedness of racism, ableism and queerphobia as we date, hook up, contemplate marriage and building our families, make informed choices and perhaps model our collective activism in ways that address these systemic issues.

The goal of this work is not to say that there is a utopia that exists where we can all retreat to remove ourselves from the current system. It is here to show that the decisions we make do not exist in a vacuum, especially those close personal and private decisions we make about our intimate and sexual lives. It demonstrates that there are ways of being that we can engage with that do not continue the cycle of oppression of those at the margins. It is a call to action for scholars to think more critically about their work and whose stories we leave out. This is especially important due to the current socio- political climate of increased hostility toward those whose work and embodiment do not continue to prop up the empires of North America in a way that privileges the White, cis- hetero patriarchy.