This episode explores former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori’s population control programs and how eugenic principles have led to the forceful sterilization of women belonging to various indigenous communities. What role do foreign governments and international donors play in the racialized politics of population control, and how have violations of women’s bodily autonomy and reproductive rights come to light? Listen to hear what kind of civil society mobilization is ongoing in pursuit of reparations for the victims and survivors.
Guest featured in this episode:
Alejandra Ballon Gutierrez is an assistant professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. She is a social scientist, a visual artist, and a feminist activist, whose work is situated at the intersection of gender, human rights, race, and decolonial perspectives. Her doctoral dissertation in social anthropology in Paris focused on the history of a decade of forced sterilizations in Peru. Further she works as coordinator of the Forced Sterilization Reparations Working Group which has been trying to gain justice for women forcibly sterilized since 25 years and at the Institute in support of the Rural Women’s Autonomous Movement. Alejandra also has a master’s degree in Critical Curatorial Cyber Media Studies from the Geneva University of Art and Design. Her work spans a variety of artistic disciplines, installations, drawing, music, performance painting, and the new media.
