First Advisor
Dr. William Harry York
Date of Award
Spring 6-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Psychology and University Honors
Department
Psychology
Language
English
Subjects
Postcolonial, Oregon history, Psychiatric history, Eugenics, Sterilization, Pacific Northwest history
Abstract
This thesis seeks to explore the story of Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair, one of the first female doctors in the Pacific Northwest, who wrote the bill that would one day enact Oregon’s long standing eugenic sterilization laws. Utilizing postcolonial framework primarily provided by psychiatrist and political writer Frantz Fanon, and supplemental literature from historian Ann Stoler, this paper will look into Dr. Adair’s life story and her eugenic efforts in an attempt to understand the colonial roots of turn-of-the-century beliefs about bodies, behavior, and will ultimately aim to question how these beliefs may still reverberate through society today.
Recommended Citation
Walker, Lucille M., "A Postcolonial Re-Telling of the Life and Times of Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair" (2025). University Honors Theses. Paper 1736.