Striving for the nation's fitness: Eugenic thought in Turkey and Japan (1920s- 1940s)

The principal objective of this thesis is to compare the eugenics discourses and policies of Turkey and Japan, which demonstrate remarkable parallels in their modernization periods. In this regard, one of the main questions of the present work is to understand how and under what circumstances the concept of eugenics, which initially emerged in the West in the late nineteenth century and travelled across the world over the years, was received, developed, localized and applied in Turkey and Japan. These two countries, whose modernization periods were shaped by similar paradigms, put forward their eugenics discourses and practices in an effort to acquire the status of a "civilized" country in the international arena and to protect themselves against external threats. To undertake an explicitly comparative history is crucial in terms of understanding that eugenics ceased to be a homogeneous movement with a single source; to the contrary, different movements revealed different eugenics discourses and practices. In the first chapter of the thesis, Turkish eugenics discourse and practices are examined through reading the works of the Turkish eugenicists, reports from medical conferences, government programs and regulations as well as the print media of the time. The second chapter entitled as "Japanese Eugenics Discourse and Practices" is based on critical reading of the existing literature and examines the Japanese eugenics discourse in the spheres of population, health, and sports. Key Words: Turkey, Japan, Eugenics, Health, Population