Sterilization and Social Justice Lab

The Sterilization and Social Justice Lab is an interdisciplinary research team studying the history of eugenic sterilization in the United States. Our multi-institutional team includes historians, epidemiologists, and digital humanists. We explore patterns and experiences of eugenics and sterilization in the 20th century using mixed methods from the social sciences, humanities, and public health. Initially focused on California, our project now includes Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, and Utah. We connect this history to reproductive, disability, and racial justice, as we reflect on the relevance of the past to social justice today.

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Recent Research

Marie Kaniecki, Nicole Louise Novak, Sarah Gao, Siobán Harlow, and Alexandra Minna Stern. “Operationalizing Racialized Exposures in Historical Research on Anti-Asian Racism and Health: A Comparison of Two Methods.” Front. Public Health 11 (July 2023).

In order to examine contemporary anti-Asian racism and its impact on health, Marie Kaniecki, Nicole Novak, Sarah Gao, Siobán Harlow, and Alexandra Minna Stern address its historical roots, including discriminatory immigration practices, citizenship, and land ownership through analysis of census records. This article explores the strengths and limitations of using census data to examine structural racism and understand the dynamics that impact the health of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans.

Marie Kaniecki, Nicole L. Novak, Sarah Gao, Natalie Lira, ToniAnn Treviño, Kate O’Connor, and Alexandra Minna Stern. “Racialization and Reproduction: Asian Immigrants and California’s Twentieth-Century Eugenic Sterilization Program.” Social Forces (April 2023): 1–24.

Marie Kaniecki, Nicole Novak, Sarah Gao, Natalie Lira, ToniAnn Treviño, Kate O’Connor, and Alexandra Minna Stern examine patterns of coercive sterilization of Asian and Asian American immigrants in California, comparing high rates of institutionalization and sterilization with other foreign- and U.S.-born individuals. This paper considers the racist, gendered implementation of restrictions against Asian immigration and its connection to the racism and sexism inherent in eugenics.

James Tabery, Nicole L. Novak, Lida Sarafraz, and Aubrey Mansfield. “Victims of Eugenic Sterilisation in Utah: Cohort Demographics and Estimate of Living Survivors.” The Lancet Regional Health — Americas 19 (February 2023).

James Tabery, Nicole Novak, Lida Sarafraz, and Aubrey Mansfield examine archival records and data from the Utah State Developmental Center to understand and describe the demographics of individuals sterilized under Utah’s coercive, eugenic sterilization program from the 1940s to the 1970s.