CRITICAL MASSES: AMERICAN POPULATIONISM, EUGENICS, AND WAR, 1945 TO 1975
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2019
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This thesis argues that American thinkers in the post-war period (1945 to 1975) who diagnosed global overpopulation made implicit suggestions that “population problems” could be addressed by raising death rates, such as through war. I illustrate that the fear of population growth, which became ubiquitous in the United States during this time, largely derives from eugenically influenced concerns over losing power relative to colonized people of color around the world, but that these concerns also predate eugenics. I then apply this lens to readings of the Korean and Vietnam wars, arguing that populationist thinking is evident in these campaigns and that its prevalence at this time likely intensified American violence and increased a focus on eliminating large numbers of people, including civilians.
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American studies, Eugenics, Genocide, Korean War, Overpopulation, Sterilization, Vietnam War
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122 pages
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