About the AECY
The Anti-Eugenics Collective at Yale (AECY) is a group of students who research the histories and legacies of the American eugenics movement at Yale and beyond.
Faculty and administrators at Yale University played a pivotal role in the racist, ableist, and classist movement toward “building a better race” through their involvement in the American Eugenics Society and engagement with eugenic ideas, both locally and nationally. We view this history as crucial to understanding our present position as students and the power that Yale holds.
We focus on uncovering the histories of eugenics and addressing their contemporary implications. We investigate how eugenic ideology (as a discourse centered around genetic superiority, heredity, and “human betterment”) is intertwined with developments across academic disciplines, including statistics, law, medicine, biology, and psychology. In understanding how these logics came to be, we seek to explore how our society, policies, and institutions are profoundly linked to eugenic ideology.
What is the Anti-Eugenics Collective at Yale (AECY)?
Read below to learn about anti-eugenic possibilities, engagement with work and the community, and our collective’s evolution.
Imagining anti-eugenic possibilities at Yale and beyond
Along with uncovering Yale’s eugenic history , we ask:
How can we imagine a future that divests from the legacies of eugenics? What kinds of repair work can and should we undertake?
We engage with contestation on a national and local level through collaborative academic and public humanities work, local anti-eugenic tours, and curricular interventions at multiple grade levels.
Ways we want to engage in our work and community
Inform, Collaborate, and Activate
Inform - To deepen public and scholarly understanding of the profound influences of Eugenics on the university, the academic disciplines, and public policy at Yale, in New Haven, and across the country
Collaborate - To learn from and contribute towards anti-Eugenics work locally, nationally, and globally. We seek to connect with student-led efforts focusing on the afterlives of eugenics, both within and outside of educational institutions
Activate - To invite and inspire new collaborations investigating the legacies and contemporary impact of Eugenics across many fields.
The history of our collective
Summer of 2021 -
5 undergraduate students conducted archival research under the guidance of Professor Daniel HoSang to understand the history and legacies of eugenics at Yale. By the end of the summer, the first members of the collective contributed to a Yale Daily News op-ed titled “100 years later: Eugenics at Yale.”
Spring of 2022 -
25 students came together to take Professor HoSang’s new course, “Eugenics and its Afterlives.” Through student-led presentations, guest speakers, and an anti-eugenic tour of Yale’s campus with a local high school class, we sought to engage in public-facing work. These projects explored the legacies of eugenics, including intelligence testing and genetic testing, as well as Yale’s central role in developing and disseminating eugenic ideology. At the end of the class, students produced original research essays, curricula, virtual tours, and creative works that all highlighted new possibilities for contesting and addressing the legacies of eugenics.
Ongoing work -
The Anti-Eugenics Collective at Yale continues our work of researching, synthesizing, and sharing out anti-eugenic scholarship. As we grow, we continue to engage in anti-eugenic work that informs, activates, and creates collaborations and anti-eugenic contestations.