"L'Art eugénique": Biopower and the Biocultures of Neo-Lamarckian Eugenics

The inauguration of the Socié;té; française d'eugé;nique has been historically privileged as the 'official' starting point of French eugenics. In viewing eugenics through the lens of Foucauldian "biopower," this article reveals another history originating with the formation of the Third Republic and the national psychosis linking depopulation and degeneration. Locating its emergence within the prism of biocultural intersections forged between artists, scientists, physicians, politicians, publishers, physical educationalists, and modern sportspersons over the Republican imperative of corporeal regeneration, this article demonstrates that neo-Lamarckian eugenics was never an official policy. Coercive and dissuasive, it functioned insidiously and efficaciously as the equivalent of "un art eugé;nique."