[Sci-tech-public] STS Circle, April 18th - Ruha Benjamin - (Please RSVP)

[Harvard STS]

*STS Circle at Harvard*
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*Ruha Benjamin*
*Sociology, Boston University*
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*A Lab of Their Own: Genomic sovereignty as post-colonial science policy? *
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Monday, April 18th
12:15-2:00 p.m.
124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 100, Room 106

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Lunch is provided if you RSVP.
Please RSVP to sts <sts at hks.harvard.edu>@hks.harvard.edu<sts at hks.harvard.edu>
 by 5pm Thursday, April 14th.

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*Abstract:* In this talk I consider the impact and meaning of ‘genomic
sovereignty’ as an emergent science policy frame in postcolonial contexts. I
identify three strands in the organization of this policy arena: the
International Haplotype Mapping Project as a model and foil for postcolonial
genomics; a public health genomics field which stands in contrast to Western
pursuits of personalized medicine; and Big Pharma's increased focus on
ethnic drug markets. I conceptualize postcolonial genomics as a nationalist
project with competing tendencies: unifying and differentiating a diverse
body politic; cultivating scientific and commercial autonomy; and dependence
upon global knowledge networks and foreign capital. I suggest that the
‘strategic calibration’ of socio-political and genetic taxonomies creates
two interrelated challenges -- dilemmas of mapping and marketing -- for
actors in this field.


*Biography*: Ruha Benjamin received her PhD in Sociology from UC Berkeley
(2008), and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA’s Center for Society
& Genetics (2010). Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of
science, medicine, and biotechnology; history and social studies of race and
gender; science policy, public health, and critical social theory. She is
currently completing a book, *People’s Science*, which examines ethnoracial,
gender, class, and disability politics as a constitutive feature of stem
cell research. Drawn from this larger project, "Organized Ambivalence: When
Sickle Cell Disease and Stem Cell Research Converge" is forthcoming in the
journal Ethnicity & Health later this year. She has also recently started a
second project that examines the geneticization of populations in three
countries (India, Mexico, and South Africa), and which forms the basis for
this STS Circle talk.


A complete list of STS Circle at Harvard events can be found on our website:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/
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---------------------------------
Samuel A. Evans, DPhil
Postdoctoral Fellow
& Chair of the STS Circle
Harvard University

Program on Science, Technology, & Society
Kennedy School of Government

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts
+1 (617) 496-0807
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