The boundaries of life now occupy a place of central concern among biological anthropologists. Because of the centrality of the modern biological definition of life to Euro-American medicine and anthropology, the definition of life itself and its contestation exemplify competing uses of knowledge. On the one hand, life and death may be redefined as partial or contingent --brain death-- or reconstituted altogether --virtual or artificial life. On the other hand, the finality and reality of death resists such classifications. This volume reflects a growing international concern about issues such as organ transplantation, new reproductive and genetic technologies and embryo research, and the necessity of cross-cultural comparison. The political economy of body parts, organ and tissue harvesting, bio-prospecting, and the patenting of life-forms are explored herein, as well as governance and regulation in cloning, organ transplantation, tissue engineering, and artificial life systems procedures.
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This volume...is an impressive deepening and specification of the sort of systematic work that is being done in and on biosciences. The command of complex developments in scientific research is impressive, and it is a model of what a synthetic report on an emerging research field should be. It will not only be read widely by scholars in science studies, but also...by a wide range of anthropologists. --George Marcus, Rice University
The essays compiled in this book map broad changes in the continuously evolving conceptions of life and death as brought about by developments in contemporary science . . . [E]ach chapter might potentially have a formative influence on its own field and related literature. The book is therefore a seminal contribution to the broader field of inquiry. --Diana Gibson, Medische Antropologie
Ten contributions from biological and medical anthropologists consider the social implications of recent advances in biotechnology. A sampling of topics includes the commodification of the organs of brain dead patients; the reactions of various governments to cloning technologies; and the medical experiences of persons with genetic illnesses. --SciTech Book News December 2004
The essays compiled in this book map broad changes in the continuously evolving conceptions of life and death as brought about by developments in contemporary science….[E]ach chapter might potentially have a formative influence on its own field and related literature. The book is therefore a seminal contribution to the broader field of inquiry. --Diana Gibson, Medische Antropologie
Ten contributions from biological and medical anthropologists consider the social implications of recent advances in biotechnology. A sampling of topics includes the commodification of the organs of brain dead patients; the reactions of various governments to cloning technologies; and the medical experiences of persons with genetic illnesses. --SciTech Book News December 2004
The essays compiled in this book map broad changes in the continuously evolving conceptions of life and death as brought about by developments in contemporary science . . . [E]ach chapter might potentially have a formative influence on its own field and related literature. The book is therefore a seminal contribution to the broader field of inquiry. --Diana Gibson, Medische Antropologie
Ten contributions from biological and medical anthropologists consider the social implications of recent advances in biotechnology. A sampling of topics includes the commodification of the organs of brain dead patients; the reactions of various governments to cloning technologies; and the medical experiences of persons with genetic illnesses. --SciTech Book News December 2004
The essays compiled in this book map broad changes in the continuously evolving conceptions of life and death as brought about by developments in contemporary science….[E]ach chapter might potentially have a formative influence on its own field and related literature. The book is therefore a seminal contribution to the broader field of inquiry. --Diana Gibson, Medische Antropologie
Ten contributions from biological and medical anthropologists consider the social implications of recent advances in biotechnology. A sampling of topics includes the commodification of the organs of brain dead patients; the reactions of various governments to cloning technologies; and the medical experiences of persons with genetic illnesses. --SciTech Book News December 2004
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Life and Death,
This review is from: Remaking Life & Death: Toward an Anthropology of the Biosciences (School of American Research Advanced Seminar Series) (Paperback)
<A highly interesting book on a very important topic. The biomedical sciences increasingly transgress traditional and hence largely intuitive borders of personhood, of being alife, or of what is destiny or where man can intervene. All this creates pressing social, political and giuridical challenges. Yet, most decision-makers become aware of these problems only when specific cases emerge.The book focuses on the transformation of our concepts of life and death, revealing an unexpected variety and complexity of approaches, results and implications. Though written nearly exclusively by anthropologists - as the subtitle clearly indicates -, many of them favouring constructivist conceptions of science, the authors resisted the temptation which characterized so many analyses of the past decades, to simply condemn the natural sciences as something awful that should be stopped or controlled as much as possible. Instead, most essays greatly illuminate the grey areas between recent scientific research and the sociopolitical questions that arise, and are thus interesting for all people touching it.
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This volume was conceptualized and brought to fruition across the millennial divide, a time that witnessed escalating concern, from both within and beyond the discipline of anthropology, over the proliferation of new forms of life and death emergent in the life sciences. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
biotech mode, genomic horizon, brine shrimp assay, embryonic tail, popular sires, neocortical death, companion species, natural products screening, biological substitutes, tissue engineering, diversity discourses, marine biotechnology, ocean future, permanent vegetative state Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Margaret Lock, House of Lords, Canine Diversity Project, Johns Hopkins, Roslin Institute, Van Dover, Donna Haraway, Hannah Landecker, Human Genome Project, Missvplicity Project, National Institutes of Health, North America, Cold War, Geron Corporation, Marilyn Strathern, Paul Rabinow, Finn Dorset, Great Pyrenees, Missyplicity Project, National Cancer Institute, National Ocean Conference, Rachel Mata, Rayna Rapp, Third World New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
This volume was conceptualized and brought to fruition across the millennial divide, a time that witnessed escalating concern, from both within and beyond the discipline of anthropology, over the proliferation of new forms of life and death emergent in the life sciences. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
biotech mode, genomic horizon, brine shrimp assay, embryonic tail, popular sires, neocortical death, companion species, natural products screening, biological substitutes, tissue engineering, diversity discourses, marine biotechnology, ocean future, permanent vegetative state Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Margaret Lock, House of Lords, Canine Diversity Project, Johns Hopkins, Roslin Institute, Van Dover, Donna Haraway, Hannah Landecker, Human Genome Project, Missvplicity Project, National Institutes of Health, North America, Cold War, Geron Corporation, Marilyn Strathern, Paul Rabinow, Finn Dorset, Great Pyrenees, Missyplicity Project, National Cancer Institute, National Ocean Conference, Rachel Mata, Rayna Rapp, Third World New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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