Healthcare at the Intersections of Race and Gender: Critiquing Eugenics in Rosario Castellanos's Ciudad Real and Renee Tajima-Peña's No más bebés/No More Babies

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the use of medicine as a technology of power used to uplift white hegemonic actors: whites in the United States and mixed-race Ladinos in Mexico. Through this lens I discuss and analyze two mid-twentieth century cultural productions: Rosario Castellanos's literary works, "La rueda del hambriento" and "El don Rechazado," and Renee Tajima-Peña's documentary film, No más bebés. Before analyzing the two cultural productions, this thesis provides historical contexts of race construction, gender as a construct, and eugenic practices in both the United States and Mexico. Analyzing cultural productions from both the United States and Mexico allows for a comparison of that highlights the role of medicine in racial formation. While the United States and Mexico are two very different countries, the analysis of both cultural productions stresses the fact that racialized women and their place in societal hierarchies ultimately impacts their access to medical care, as well as the quality of care.