Anthropology and the New Genetics (New Departures in Anthropology)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 280 pages
• Published by: Cambridge University Press
• Edition: 1st Edition August 27, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0521671744
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0521671743
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 1.1 pounds

Product Review
' provides a good overview of emerging concepts and theory in anthropology in relation to genetics.' Medische Antropologie

Product Description
The growth of 'new genetics' has dramatically increased our understanding of health, diseases and the body. Anthropologists argue that these scientific advances have had far-reaching social and cultural implications, radically changing our self-understanding and perception of what it means to be human; that we have become 'biomedicalized', fragmented and commodified - redefining our notions of citizenship, social relations, family and identity. This book shows how anthropology can contribute to and challenge the ways we have come to understand genetic issues. Exploring a range of issues and case studies in genetic research, it provides an ethnographic 'reality-check', arguing that we must look beyond the 'gene-centrism' of genetic codes, family trees and insular populations, to explore their wider cultural, ethical and philosophical implications. Including coverage of the controversial and widely discussed Icelandic Health Sector Database, this accessible survey will be welcomed by graduate students and researchers in social anthropology, human genetics and biotechnology.

Reader Reviews
In 1998 Iceland reportedly sold its Viking genes to deCODE Genetics, who planned to crosslink genetic, medical, and genealogical data to pinpoint genes that cause disease. In Anthropology and the New Genetics, Gisli Palsson compares the resulting international outcry to the fog that covered Europe when an Icelandic volcano erupted in 1783--few knew what the fog signified, but everyone had an opinion. Palsson, instead, climbed the volcano: He spent months at deCODE learning about genes and gene hunters, then analyzed the public debate. His wide-ranging and thorough study examines our use of maps, trees, banks, blueprints, birthmarks, the "book of life," and other metaphors and shows how they color our understanding of human history and diversity, citizenship and belonging, kinship and identity, privacy and consent, and, ultimately, of what it means to be human.--Nancy Marie Brown, co-author of Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist Looks at Genetically Modified Foods