This is an image of a mosaic in Zumberge Hall (ZHS) at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. Every Wednesday afternoon last semester I had class in ZHS for a lab section to my Planet Earth lecture. One day I went in a different door than normal and I beheld this grand art piece. Displayed are four people—all white—showing their oneness with flora and fauna, as well as with science. Beyond the frame of this picture is a Earth sciences building that is a part of a university that has a diverse student body with representations of over a hundred countries and all 50 states in the US. The University finds great pride in the student population that it has.
Eugenics was a topic that we discussed in the 4th week of my Race and Class in Los Angeles class, and it is a term that according to the Midterm Review Notes posted by the class's three TA's, eugenics quite literally means "good birth" and more specifically thinks about the convergence of race, science, and power. Eugenics is a means used by many white people in the 19th and 20th century to justify a white-superiority complex. According to eugenicists, those who are not white are inherently savages, or criminals, or any other negative attribute one can give a "lesser than" race. When I peer through a critical lens at this mosaic with the knowledge that I now have about eugenics, I start to see a bias that may have been evident when this piece was created. There are four white people— no minorities—displayed in this mural inside a building that teaches science. While likely not intentional, the diversity-lacking mosaic influentially depicts a eugenic approach towards science because it is displayed within a science building. This building serves as a place of convergence for people of all races, ethnicities, religions, etc. to study science together, however, one must question why there are no minorities depicted. For a campus that has no racial majority, the art it displays is a century behind by leaving out minority groups.
It may not have been intentional by the artist to leave out everyone besides white people, but the representation of whites being one with nature in this mosaic makes me think that it also implies they are superior to other races who are not—at least not according to this mosaic. The eugenics-fueled white superiority that is engrained into this art piece showcases how racial formation is inherent in our society through both cultural and structural forces—and sometimes both—as displayed by this cultural art piece at an institution like the University of Southern California.
