Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Population Control Imagery (1933-2008)

Posted by Miriam - February 09, 2009
http://www.feministing.com/archives/013611.html

A new multimedia tool from the Population and Development Program out of Hampshire College chronicles the history of beliefs about population control. Stop the Blame: Population Control Imagery (1933-2008) is available for download or on CD, and lays out a ton of images from newspapers, magazines and other media from the last 70 years. The images illustrate exactly how our beliefs about population, developing countries and the environment have been shaped by eugenics, racism and many other ideological factors.

This digital flash archive displays historical prints, posters and articles that articulate overpopulation anxieties and illustrate population control policies. The interactive presentation offers a rare overview of the visual media of past and present population control agendas in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa. It is a tool that can be used in classrooms, activist trainings, and public talks. Each image is accompanied by a written description that provides context and food for thought.

They were nice enough to send me a review copy of the CD and it is really a fantastic teaching tool. My blurb about the project:

The Stop the Blame multimedia project does what a simple written history cannot: it shows us the interplay between race, population, eugenics and the environment.... This project should be a required teaching tool for all history and sociology courses.

It's worth checking out, and best of all, it's free! You can download it or request a hard copy here.

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