Transing: Resistance to Eugenic Ideology in Nella Larsen’s Passing

@article{Schalk2015TransingRT,
  title={Transing: Resistance to Eugenic Ideology in Nella Larsen’s Passing},
  author={Sami Schalk},
  journal={Journal of Modern Literature},
  year={2015},
  volume={38},
  pages={148 - 161}
}
  • Sami Schalk
  • Published 26 July 2015
  • Art
  • Journal of Modern Literature
Nella Larsen’s Passing can be seen as a critique of early-twentieth-century eugenic ideology. Race, class, gender, and sexual binaries were mutually constituted in eugenic ideology and practices of the period and, therefore, cannot be separated or hierarchically ranked in any analysis of the character Clare Kendry. Clare challenges these identity binaries by attempting to not simply cross over them, but to live on both sides of them. The both/and nature of her actions and desires makes Clare a… 
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