Street-Arab Literature

A lens to study eugenics as a class-based movement

Abstract

In his paper, "Eugenics and Other Evils" (1922), G.K Chesterton condemns the eugenics movement and argues that eugenic laws were designed by the upper-classes to control and discipline the lower-classes. Building upon the existing scholarship on eugenics and class, I argue that ‘Street-Arab’ literature provides an additional source of information in understanding the socio-political climate that favored the eugenics movement in early twentieth century. I explore a range of fictional and non-fictional sources from the late nineteenth century to demonstrate that the poor were already treated as a separate race before the advent of the eugenics movement. The article establishes that the understanding of eugenics, one of the defining movements of the twentieth century which in part led to the great wars, can be furthered by the study of Street-Arab literature.