Abstract

Using a historical approach I examined race discourse within the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) between 1883 and 1982 to better understand how race concepts connect to the production of medical knowledge and ignorance; how they influenced the production of legal and medical policy; how they related to the production and maintenance of health injustice; and how oppressions and injustices are interrelated. I found a clear differentiation between Jim Crow era and post-Jim Crow race discourse. Jim Crow era race discourse was characterized by a nested, bio-nationalist construct of race, an explicit commitment to White supremacy, a sense of racialized professional responsibility that included sometimes explicit disinterest in and resentment toward Black patients, and enthusiastic advocacy for race-informed policy, especially eugenics. Notions of race quality and improvement are tightly related to ableism, including sanism, and to heterosexist and cissexist views of women as reproducers. Post-Jim Crow race discourse largely treats race as an obvious, fundamental division of human bodies but lacks explicit justification; it does not explicitly confront or acknowledge earlier white supremacy, ableism, or sexism.

Committee Chair

Zakiya Luna

Committee Members

David Cunningham, Michael Esposito

Degree

Master of Arts (AM/MA)

Author's Department

Sociology

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Spring 5-12-2025

Language

English (en)

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