Building the New Man: Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy

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Francis Galton’s gospel was quickly spread around the world. In 1924, a report of the International Commission of Eugenics published in Eugenical News listed fifteen countries in which eugenics had assumed an institutional connotation: England, Germany, the United States, Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia , Norway, Argentina, Cuba and Russia. Countries that were realizing forms of cooperation with the International Commission included Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Australian and New Zealand.1 In the same year, a bibliography dedicated to eugenic issues already counted 7,500 titles, including monographs and articles. B H i s t o r y o f M e d i c i n e H i s t o r y o f M e d i c i n e History of Medicine C E U P r e s s S t u d i e s i n t h e C E U P r e s s S t u d i e s i n t h e Central European University Press Budapest – New York Sales and information: ceupress@ceu.hu Website: http://www.ceupress.com ISBN 978-963-9776-83-8 90000 > Francesco Cassata D e s i g n e d b y S e b a s t i a n S t a c h o w s k i A b o u t t h e A u t h o r Francesco Cassata received his PhD in Contemporary History from the University of Turin. He published extensively on the ideology of Italian fascism and neo-fascism, and on the history of fascist racism. He is also author of the first indepth study of Lysenkoism in Italy. His current research project concerns the Italian geneticist Adriano Buzzati-Traverso and the development of molecular biology in Italy. “Eugenic doctrines emerged and circulated in Italy differently than in most of the other Western countries. Cassata is the first to provide a comprehensive historical analysis of the complex relationships between the academic and theoretical dimensions and the political-institutional aspects of Italian eugenics. This book contributes to the international comparative investigations of the eugenic movement that spread around the world during the first half of the past century.” Gilberto Corbellini, Professor of History of Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza” “Historical studies on the eugenic movements have been flourishing in the last decades, while the peculiar Italian case suffered from a strange scholarly neglect. At last Cassata’s book makes the case known to the international public and gives us an overall and original narrative that deals with events, institutions, and actors in Italy during the 20th century.” Claudio Pogliano, Professor of History of Science, University of Pisa Francesco Cassata Building the New Man Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s Acknowledgements Introduction chapter i Between Lombroso and Pareto: the Italian Way to Eugenics 1. Lombroso’s Way: the Problem of Degeneration 2. Pareto’s Way: the Problem of the Elite 3. The Italian Committee of Eugenic Studies chapter ii Eugenics and Dysgenics of War 1. War as Counter-selection 2. War as Gymnasium 3. War as Laboratory 4. Eugenics and the “Sons of the Enemy” chapter iii Regenerating Italy (1919–1924) 1. Ettore Levi and the IPAS Campaign for Birth Control 2. A Concrete Proposal: Premarital Certificates 3. Sterilization and Euthanasia 4. The Work of the “Useless”: Mental Hygiene in Italy chapter iv Quality through Quantity: Eugenics in Fascist Italy 1. Corrado Gini’s Hegemony 2. Constitutionalism and “Latin” Eugenics 3. Demography and Biotypology chapter v Eugenics and Racism (1938–1943) 1. Biological Racism and Hereditarian Eugenics 2. Environmentalist Eugenics 3. Esoteric-traditionalist Racism and Eugenics 4. Assortative Mating and Racism 5. Toward a National Genetic Center chapter vi Toward a New Eugenics 1. SIGE Schisms 2. From Premarital Examination to Genetic Counseling 3. Eugenics and Catholic Medical Genetics chapter vii Against UNESCO: Italian Eugenics and American Scientific Racism 1. The IAAEE and The Mankind Quarterly (1959–1965) 2. Meticciato di Guerra: Luigi Gedda and Reginald Ruggles Gates 3. Corrado Gini and the “Guerrilla War” against UNESCO 4. Epilogue: Race and Modern Science Conclusions Bibliography Index CEU Celebrates its 20th Anniversary: 1991-2011 Building the New Man ...