Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Program/Concentration

Institute for the Humanities

Committee Director

Jennifer Fish

Committee Member

Amy Milligan

Committee Member

Lee Slater

Abstract

On 8 November 2014, Dr RK Gupta performed eighty-three tubal ligations at a makeshift clinic in Bilaspur, India — thirteen of which resulted in death. The women, most of whom belonged to the Dalit or “untouchable” caste, were recruited by family planning agencies, lured in by cash incentives or other gifts in exchange for sterilisation. Sadly, however, the Bilaspur tragedy does not exist in isolation — but rather belongs to an extensive history of government-sponsored abuse, the majority of which has been directly led by white, Western powers. Funded by the New York-based Population Council, India was one of the first countries to implement measures of population control in 1952 and has since led multiple mass sterilisation campaigns against its poorest and most marginalised. In examining the history of compulsory sterilisation in India and its connections to the American eugenics movement, this thesis aims to shed light on the longevity of colonialist attitudes surrounding race, gender, class, and location.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/a865-ac84

ISBN

9798280748743

ORCID

0009-0008-0032-3244

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