What Does Identity Mean To You? - Disrupting The legacy Jazz, Identity and the Myths of Eugenics

It is important to begin by grounding this article in a clear understanding of what eugenics is and its historical relationship to UCL. Eugenics is the scientifically inaccurate theory that humans can be improved through selective breeding. The term was coined by Sir Francis Galton in 1883 and it is derived from the Greek word “eugenes”, meaning “good in birth” or “good in stock”. (UCL, 2023). Francis Galton left UCL a financial legacy to establish a professorship and a research centre into the study of eugenics. Many researchers from UCL contributed to the academic work behind the eugenics movement in the early twentieth century. In December 2018 UCL commissioned an inquiry into the history of eugenics involving extensive archival research and public consultations with the findings and recommendations of the inquiry were published in February 2022, leading the university to take several actions to address its historical links to eugenics. 

This takes us up to the opening of their ‘Words Matter exhibition’ - a dialogue on eugenics, power and healing. It is a multidisciplinary exhibition showcasing the work of 12 artists — myself included — who took part in a six-month knowledge exchange programme exploring UCL’s role in the promotion of pseudoscience. Throughout this knowledge exchange as artists we came together reckoning with the details of eugenics and its entanglement with UCL. There was no way for any of us to really prepare for the weight that would come with the knowledge. After the first session, we were left genuinely perplexed about how we were meant to create an exhibition piece in response to a legacy that has caused so much harm — not only to our communities (Black, working-class, LGBTQ+, disabled, many of us sitting at multiple intersections), but to society more broadly. We learned how eugenics directly informed the ideology of the Nazi party; how medical myths rooted in eugenic thinking created the belief that Black people do not feel pain, which led to dangerously high levels of radiation being used when X-raying Black patients. We explored how these ideas continue to shape the disparities Black people face in the medical system today. We also discussed how eugenics informed policies that allowed disabled people to be denied treatment — including being refused resuscitation in hospital and that was not even half of what we learned. 

When it came to the end of the knowledge exchange sessions, our group; Myself, Maliak Kumare and Anjelo Disons, thought long and hard about how to approach our piece. We created a short film/documentary inspired by the conversations that emerged while exploring these topics. The work confronts that legacy directly, acknowledging its existence, examining its impact on society and considering how its ideology still shapes systems that govern how we are seen and defined today. Blending dialogue with improvised music of diasporic origin, the piece features prominent and emerging voices including Julian Joseph, Hillary Juma, EERF EVIL and NuAloe. These contributors are at the intersection of creativity, education, activism and public discourse. Through their stories and perspectives, the film unpacks how the legacy of eugenics still reverberates across institutions, media and cultural spaces. The film asks us to consider: What does identity mean in a world that continually tries to categorise us? How do we reclaim our stories, challenge inherited false narratives, and define ourselves on our own terms? Knowledge of the past can be deeply uncomfortable to sit with, especially when that history has been used to justify the subjugation of multiple groups within society. The work that UCL is doing by letting artists respond to their legacy of eugenics, allows for the conversation to be pushed forward and reshaped by the voices who have for so long gone voiceless. In turn making space for an overstanding of these false narratives and where they have come from. 

This exhibition is free and open to the public at UCL the Marshgate building until the 25th of February and includes the work of the talent Rachel Gadsden, Veronica McKenzie, Simi Roach, Lasana Shabazz, Ray Young, Danny Bailey, Malaika Kamure, Angelo Disons, Liam Spencer, Sonny Nwachukwu and Miss Jacqui. I encourage you to the exhibition and take your time to sit with each of the pieces, & learn more about eugenics through the lens of these talented artists who are pushing the conversation forward in innovative ways. 

What does identity mean to you, once you have reckoned with the truth of eugenics? 

Written by: Nayana Brathwaite