[Sci-tech-public] TODAY: Wen-Hua Kuo's dissertation defense

[Kris Kipp]

>
>
>>Copies of Wen-Hua's dissertation are available for review in the STS 
>>office (E51-185)
>>
>>Please join us for Wen-Hua Kuo's dissertation defense:
>>
>>
>>Japan and Taiwan in the Wake of Bio-Globalization:
>>Drugs, Race and Standards
>>
>>Wen-Hua Kuo
>>
>>Thursday, August 18, 2005
>>
>>1:00 PM
>>
>>E51-275
>>
>>
>>
>>ABSTRACT
>>
>>
>>This is a study of Japan and Taiwan's different responses to the 
>>expansion of the global drug industry. The thesis focuses on the 
>>problematic of "voicing (FASHENG)," of how a state can make its interests 
>>heard in the International Conference on Harmonization of Technical 
>>Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The 
>>ICH is a unique project that facilitates the formation of a single global 
>>market by creating universal standards for clinical trials and drug 
>>approvals. Tracing, through "slow motion" ethnography, step by step, why 
>>Japan claims a racial difference requires additional local clinical 
>>trials with "Asian bodies," this thesis rejects conventional 
>>interpretations of protectionism for Japan's resistance to globalization. 
>>It argues that more than protectionism is involved, and that a rich 
>>ethnographic understanding of Japan's medical infrastructure is required 
>>to understand the claim of biological, cultural, and national 
>>differences, as well as biostatistical arguments about the ambiguities of 
>>"extrapolation" of clinical data from one place to another.
>>
>>The inherent ambiguities of efforts to create "bridging" studies as a 
>>temporary solution to these problematics created a deadlock in the ICH, 
>>and provided an opening for Taiwan, another Asian state, which does not 
>>enjoy formal recognition from the world, to speak for itself to this 
>>conference, and to create the fragile, but politically critical, 
>>possibility of becoming a clinical trial center for Asian populations. 
>>The language of genomics and biostatistics become in the more recent 
>>period the vehicles for both Japanese and Taiwanese efforts at "voicing" 
>>their concerns. Both genomics and biostatistics look different in these 
>>contexts than they do from the United States or European Union.
>>
>>In sum, (1) Japan's and Taiwan's (with a briefer look at Singapore) 
>>response, as well as "global ethnographic objects" such as the ICH, 
>>provide important tools to rethink the comparative method as well as 
>>universalizing claims of harmonization. (2) Race, culture, and the 
>>nation-state are transformed as categories through the contemporary 
>>reworkings of genomics and biostatistics. (3) The thesis demonstrates 
>>that abstract accounts of the spread of clinical trials and resistance in 
>>various parts of the world are not to be trusted unless they include 
>>detailed probings of local understandings, identity issues, and problems 
>>of voicing.
>

Kris Kipp
Academic Administrator
Program in Science, Technology, and Society
Doctoral Program in History, Anthropology, and
Science, Technology and Society (HASTS)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Mass. Ave., E51-185
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: 617-253-9759
Fax: 617-258-8118
Email: kipp at mit.edu 
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