Alexandra Stern


Alexandra Minna Stern is an American professor at the University of Michigan, with appointments in the Departments of American Culture, Obstetrics and Gynecology, History, and Women's Studies. She is currently serving as the Associate Dean for Humanities in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Academic career

Her research focuses on the history of eugenics and the uses and misuses of genetics in the United States and Latin America. She has also written about the history of public health, infectious diseases, and tropical medicine. Through these topics, she explores the dynamics of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, social difference, and reproductive politics.
In January 2017, Stern and her research team published an article in the American Journal of Public Health entitled, "California’s Sterilization Survivors: An Estimate and Call for Redress" estimating the likely living number of survivors of California's 20th century eugenic sterilization program. This research received extensive media coverage in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and NPR. It inspired and informed a Los Angeles Times editorial urging the State of California to seriously consider reparations.

Publications

''Eugenic Nation''

Stern is the author of : Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America and won the Arthur Viseltear Award for outstanding contribution to the history of public health by the American Public Health Association. Eugenic Nation is now in its second edition. She is also the author of : The Story of Genetic Counseling in America, which Choice named an Outstanding Academic Title in Health Sciences. She has written over 50 books and articles, and contributes to popular media stories about gender, medicine, and health in venues such as the HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

''Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate''

Stern's latest book, Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right is Warping the American Imagination , applies the lenses of historical analysis, feminist studies, and critical race studies to deconstructing the core ideas of the alt-right and white nationalism.