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Staff and students in the UCL community are engaging with the institution’s eugenics legacy in positive and creative ways. Discover their stories paired with our striking artwork.
On this page: Story 3 - From the collections | Meet the artists |
Other content: Read Story 1 | Read Story 2 | Read Story 4
Story 3 - Anti-eugenics: from pandemic to polarised world
Why did the Covid-19 pandemic have such an impact on the anti-eugenics movement and how are members of the UCL community playing a part?
(Main illustration by Weihong ‘Clover’ Tang. Additional illustration by Naomi Chung)
Globally, anti-eugenics movements, often at a grass roots level tell stories of the serious injustices committed by eugenicists and sound a warning for what may come in the future. ELEP caught up with a well connected member of the anti-eugenics movement and UCL staff member, Benedict Ipgrave, to learn more.
UCL's eugenics legacy is well documented and includes both an apology in January 2021, and projects such as ELEP to make positive action to address the institution’s association and historical links with eugenics.
Winter 2019, Benedict Ipgrave was working at Birbeck, University of London as a sighted assistant with a disability service manager when a UCL announcement caught his attention. He was at the time also a UCL PhD student and very interested in causes including disability rights and anti-racism. When he heard about the UCL's eugenics inquiry he was heartened. By the time it had wrapped, he would have liked a larger role for the disabled community and other marginalised voices in the process, but feels that the commission's work was an important moment for an institution that had failed to acknowledge its harmful legacy for far too long.
Along with a colleague, he started to pull together a small programme of events for people across the University of London who were interested in anti-eugenics. The world was at an unprecedented moment though, and a virus stopped most aspects of life in its tracks and ushered in a tumultuous decade. The Covid-19 pandemic quickly changed the norms in many ways; for our sector, higher education (HE), communication and teaching went online, and this gave Benedict an opportunity to expand his activities. The project, which he has called From Small Beginnings, a global conversation and seminar programme dedicated to anti-eugenics started to add more international colleagues and a more global focus on connecting people through a series of open access events. His colleagues remain very supportive of the initiative, something that means a lot to him. He started to talk with more and more anti-eugenics networks and there was a determination to mark the centenary of the second International Eugenics Congress in 2021, a deeply disturbing and high profile event that was attended by many famous people of the era.
I started connecting with colleagues right around the world and thinking how can we mark this occasion in a big and appropriate way that is respectful for those who have been most harmed and targeted by eugenics. (Benedict Ipgrave)
The pandemic, for all its misery, changed how we all communicated in profound ways. Video conferencing suddenly opened to a wider section of society and that has given academics, activists and communities the opportunity to connect. Opinions during the lockdown years mirrored some of the dangerous ideology around eugenics, especially with the resurgence of right-wing ableist agendas. The highly charged pandemic years exposed how close to the surface some dangerous attitudes were and they had not gone away with herd immunity, and sacrificing of certain communities’ welfare, do not resuscitate scandals, vaccine nationalism, and many other cases mirroring attitudes that many thought were consigned to the past. The pandemic also exposed the inequalities of society like never before. In Benedict’s words it was a “massive backwards step for the rights and attitudes towards the disabled community, and many other marginalised communities.”
Benedict is a natural connecter and, due to his tenacity he began to pull in partners, including the American Museum of National History and even some institutions that wanted to explore mistakes in their histories. The past events page on his website shows the astonishing number of eugenics legacies that need to be unpacked, addressed and recorded, with the risk being these injustices are forgotten.
So how has the anti-eugenics movement developed?
- Added different voices.
- Focused on inclusiveness.
- Established common goals.
- Supported through mutual experience.
People are fighting different symptoms of eugenics today, but people don’t always realise the root causes of eugenic legacies. (Benedict Ipgrave)“
Eugenics did a lot to hide itself after WW2. It continued under different names but doing the same sort of pseudo-science. It went out of people’s consciousness and unlike injustices such as slavery, with eugenics there are no plantations for schools to visit and learn from. Eugenics is not really taught until university and is neglected in many curriculums. Benedict considers one of the main goals of anti-eugenicists is to build up the idea of anti-eugenics as a discipline in its own right. There are no anti-eugenics research centres or journals and there is a goal among activists to change this situation as soon as possible.
Eugenics was designed to take away hope from certain communities. That hope begins to solve the problem.(Benedict Ipgrave)“Eugenics was designed to take away hope from certain communities. That hope begins to solve the problem.(Benedict Ipgrave)Eugenics was designed to take away hope from certain communities. That hope begins to solve the problem.(Benedict Ipgrave)Eugenics was designed to take away hope from certain communities. That hope begins to solve the problem.(Benedict Ipgrave)
ELEP has provided some support to From Small Beginnings and partnered with it on some events. Benedict believes that the anti-eugenics movement is in a race against time to make further progress. Visibility is still an issue and getting into schools, curriculums and getting early career researchers interested are all key aims. Elevating the voices of the victims of eugenics is the most pressing aim though. Benedict believes the time is running out to capture some of the experiences of those who have suffered under eugenic ideologies. The anti-eugenics movement is determined to not let victims be forgotten or remembered solely as eugenicists depicted them, and for more people to engage with an exploration of these legacies, particularly students and young people.
Meet the artists
Hello! My name is Weihong Tang, also known as Clover. I used to be a communication designer, and I am currently studying for a Master’s degree in Education and Technology at UCL. My interests focus on the application of tools and media production in educational settings. I am passionate about discovering innovative ways to inspire learners and enhance learning experiences.
Hi, I am Naomi Chung, currently a History of Art (Material and
Technology) student, and previously in Natural Sciences. I enjoy
creating artworks for magazines and societies at UCL.
