Essay 6

The lectures and readings on eugenics this week add a deeper insight into the idea of otherness and the condition of Africans living in Europe during the first part of the twentieth century. This development alters the way in which European attitudes toward non Europeans are perceived, primarily because, at that time, European thinkers in the field of eugenics were considering biology and breeding to be a paramount factor in what they considered the necessary development and improvement of society as a whole. That these theories came at the expense of entire races of people seems lost upon the movement, or else that itself is to be included in a goal which, by its very nature, persecutes everyone who falls below the social ideal of the time.
The one consolation for the African population in Europe during the period was that it was fairly marginal in relation to the overall population numbers of western European countries. In terms of the eugenics movement, African populations in European countries were secondary to the significantly larger Jewish population spread throughout the whole of Europe. These lines of thoughts, however vile, seem to run a splintered course in terms of European thoughts on the vitality and viability of certain elements of national population. The attitudes of the old blood aristocracy toward the working class, and likewise, the attitudes of the working class toward the authority of society were conflicting in nature and contributed to the discussion of what, indeed, was a proper social attitude. This stratified status in most European countries made the selection of a "superior" or preferable kind of citizen a more delicate act simply because the ideals of society were seen very differently, depending upon ones own social status.