The Bio-logics of Poverty: Anthropometrics, Eugenics, and Racism in the Name of Care

Dr. Emily Yates-Doerr is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Oregon State University. Her experience growing up on a remote Alaskan island influenced her interests in health, food justice, and social inequality.

"Global health institutions are encouraging policymakers to fight global poverty by collecting data on childhood stunting. This attention to children's growth resurfaces one of anthropology's oldest fascinations: the measurement of bodies and heads.

Set in Guatemala—a country with one of the highest rates of stunting according to the World Bank—my paper describes how a range of people (scientists, midwives, mothers) take up or reject the science of anthropometrics. I unpack how big-data growth measurement technologies contribute to the creation of racial difference, echoing Galton's 20th-century Anthropometric Laboratory and his eugenic theories of fitness and value. I show how "bio-logics of poverty" both produce inequality and hold it in place, and ask what other logics of poverty we might take up instead."

Zoom Registration Link, April 16, 2021, 12:00p CST:

Click HERE for registration.

Associated Material:

You can access Dr. Yates-Doerr's chapter, which covers the material she will be discussing in her talk, HERE.

If you are looking for a more abbreviated version of the material, Dr. Yates-Doerr has also kindly provided a video, HERE.

A Microsoft Word version of her chapter will be distributed in a forthcoming email.

Event Flyer: