Politics of Heredity

Exploration of intersection of politics and genetics in liberal democracies and totalitarian regimes. How genetics has been used to consolidate and undermine political authority, and how political authority has been employed to both promote and restrict genetics. Consideration of several historical episodes such as rise to power in Soviet Union of T.D. Lysenko, peasant agronomist who rejected Mendelism in favor of quasi-Lamarckian approach to genetics; participation of geneticists in creation of racial state in Nazi Germany; and debates over compulsory sterilization of mental defectives in U.S., Canada, and Europe from 1920s to 1940s. Contemporary cases such as controversies over genetically modified foods and regulation and governance of reprogenetic technologies, and rise of disease advocacy groups as important players in determining funding and direction of genetic research.

Letter grading.