Asha Nadkarni: "I'm really talking about a specific brand of nationalist feminism that insists women should have rights within the nation based on their ability to reproduce."

NBn (New Books from the University of Massachusetts) interviews the author of EUGENIC FEMINISM.

Eugenic Feminism by Asha NadkarniIn her book, Eugenic Feminism: Reproductive Nationalism in the United States and India, author and English professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Asha Nadkarni examines the effects of nationalist feminism. Nadkarni asserts that forms of reproductive nationalism are an exercise in eugenics. In her book, Professor Nadkarni focuses on this type of feminism in the United States and India.

Nadkarni clarifies Eugenic Feminism for our listeners, "I'm really talking about a specific brand of nationalist feminism that insists women should have rights within the nation based on their ability to reproduce." Nadkarni then goes on to claim that this type of feminism is a slippery slope to the rise of eugenic practices, or the regulation of reproduction based on race, class, and religion and other various factors.

Professor Nadkarni's book is a thorough and organized layout of the nationalist problems that exist within the borders of the US and India, but it also seeks to explain the origins of these problems beyond the territories of both States. Nadkarni argues that colonialism has a hand at perpetuating these practices and solidifying reproductive nationalist beliefs.

LISTEN HERE.

Published in: NBn: New Books from the University of Massachusetts
By: Corinne Elicone