My Recent Ongoing Research

Salvēte, omnēs! I am delighted to present to you all a project that I have been working on for the past few months! I have been researching the American eugenics movement, and I know you may ask, how does this relate to Classics -- to that I would respond, the word "eugenics" itself was coined by Francis Galton, a man who surely knew his Greek and Latin. The "eu" in eugenics is the Greek root for the word "well," while the "genics" in eugenics comes from the Latin gens meaning "birth, tribe, race." Eugenics effectively means "well-born," given that it is the practice of engineering a 'strong' human race.

Beginning with my etymological fascination in a singular word, I dug through archives at the Natural History Museum and the New York Historical Society, I unearthed a world of legislation that prior to this project was unknown to me, and I ultimately wrote 5,000 words on a horrific part of American history for which our country must hold itself accountable.

Good or bad, stories ought to be shared and grappled with -- which is why I am posting this paper on the research page of TCIC, emphasizing interdisciplinary connections. In addition, I invite you all to read this article: https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-important-events/eugenics-origins-0016858 Jake Leigh-Howarth makes a very interesting argument on origins of eugenics in the Classical world, aligning with my view that eugenics and classics share overlapping histories.