Blood, race, and national identity: scientific and popular discourses
Creator
Polsky, Allyson D.
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of Medical Humanities 2002 Winter; 23(3-4): 171-186
Abstract
This essay examines the symbolic significance of blood in the twentieth century and its role in determining the composition of a national community along racial lines. By drawing parallels between Nazi notions of blood and racial purity and historically contemporaneous U.S. policies regarding blood and blood products, Polsky reveals a disturbing proximity in discourse and policy. While the Nazis attempted to locate Jewish racial essence and inferiority in blood and instituted eugenic measures and laws forbidding racial admixture, similar policies existed in the U.S. based on the so-called "one drop rule" that systematically discriminated against African Americans.
Date
2002-12Subject
Collections
Metadata
Show full item recordRelated items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Biomedical Sciences and Popular Culture: Mutually Constitutive, Not Oppositional
Polsky, Allyson D. (2002-12) -