Call For Performers: Alberta Eugenics Awareness Week
Please distribute widely!
Alberta Eugenics Awareness Week (AEAW) 2013 takes places Wednesday October 16 through Tuesday October 22, 2013. This year will be the third annual AEAW held to raise awareness about the history of eugenics and the influences that history has on contemporary attitudes towards people with disabilities. These events are coordinated through the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada (LAE), a Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) project, funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
We are looking for individuals and/or groups who are interested in participating in an evening of performances on Tuesday October 22, 2013 as part of AEAW 2013. The evening will include a performance by CRIPSiE (formerly iDance) and a reading by Leilani Muir from her autobiography. We seek artists and performers with the goals of providing an entertaining and varied show that could draw a wide audience, and so we hope to provide a mix of dance, drag, spoken word, comedy, singing, visual artists, story tellers, and more! This show is open to the public and free to attend. More details will be posted on our website soon: http://eugenicsarchive.ca/
Background Information: Western Canada occupies a strikingly under-explored place in the history of eugenics. In 1928 Alberta introduced the Sexual Sterilization Act under the newly formed United Farmers of Alberta government. Surgical sexual sterilization of “mental defectives” in combination with the deportation of “social undesirables” served an ambitious political agenda that promoted a healthy citizenry while minimizing state expenditures. This policy remained in effect in Alberta until 1972 and in British Columbia until 1973, with sterilizations reviewed and approved by eugenics boards in both provinces. Despite significant social changes over a 40-year period, these boards continued to justify sterilization surgeries on grounds that the state had a key role to play in managing reproduction, particularly that of “mentally defective” individuals who were considered a burden on the state.
Public awareness of Alberta’s history of eugenics arose through legal action brought by team
member Leilani Muir against the Province, with a decision in favour of the plaintiff in 1996. The
subsequent National Film Board documentary, The Sterilization of Leilani Muir, and the approximately 900 legal actions launched in the wake of the Muir trial for wrongful sterilization and confinement, settled by the Province out of court, also fostered concentrated yet passing awareness of the history of eugenics in Western Canada. Scholarly work on understanding this history also progressed during this time, with contributions by team members of the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada.
The Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada research is of special relevance for contemporary discussions at the interface of reproductive choice, disability, human variation, and technology. Thus integral to our living archives is a communal space for the exploration of the relationships between the history documented and current policies and practices. The history of eugenics has been characterized in large part by the exclusionary ways—such as institutionalization, family and community segregation, and sterilization—vulnerable individuals have been treated. The Living Archives on Eugenics team aims to create barrier-free accessibility in all deliverables and actively focuses on creating a more inclusive future for Canadians – important to all people who value human variation and diversity.
Proposals should include:
Name(s) of the performer(s) and contact information
Description of your performance and how it relates to the theme
A list of audio/visual and set-up requirements, include the length of performance
Accessibility requirements
September 23, 2013 - Proposals due
September 30 – Performances acceptance announced
October 7 - Bio, music, and set up
October 22 – the show. Set-up starts at 6:00 pm. Curtain at 7:00 pm
