Policing the Scientific Body: Roger Arliner Young and Chien-Shiung Wu

• In Event: Gender, Race, and the Ideal National Body

Abstract

In this paper I explore the nationalized ideal scientific body that exists within the US cultural imaginary. Histories of scientists like zoologist Roger Arliner Young (1899-1964), and physicist Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997) illustrate the profound implications of nonconformance to the bodily norms of science and nation for women of color. Under the logic of eugenics dominant in the early 20th Century biological sciences, Young’s body was seen as “unfit” for science. Wu’s Asian female body marked her as a disruptive presence in the militarized space of the nuclear laboratory. Through their stories I describe what an ideal scientific body is not.

Presenter

• Sara Diaz, Gonzaga University