Kelly E. Happe, Jenell Johnson, and Marina Levina (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479845194
- eISBN:
- 9781479846306
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479845194.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
This collection expands scholarly understandings of citizenship in an age in which the material body and its health, vitality, and natural and social environments not only create and discipline the ...
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This collection expands scholarly understandings of citizenship in an age in which the material body and its health, vitality, and natural and social environments not only create and discipline the citizen-subject, but also provide the conditions necessary for its recognition and political agency. Together, the chapters consider biocitizenship as a unique mode of biopolitical governance, but also as a response and sometimes a resistance to it. Looking closely at the ways in which the body and citizenship interanimate each other, the collection moves away from biocitizenship as a static form of biomedical subjectivity or category of belonging and redefines it as a dynamic and essential—sometimes generative, and sometimes limiting—element of biopolitics. The book has three primary goals: to serve as the first multidisciplinary forum on biocitizenship, bringing together a variety of voices from different fields (including voices from outside the academy); to redefine biocitizenship as a broad mode of political action linked to health, bodies, and life; and to critically interrogate both the “bio” and “citizenship” of biocitizenship.Less
This collection expands scholarly understandings of citizenship in an age in which the material body and its health, vitality, and natural and social environments not only create and discipline the citizen-subject, but also provide the conditions necessary for its recognition and political agency. Together, the chapters consider biocitizenship as a unique mode of biopolitical governance, but also as a response and sometimes a resistance to it. Looking closely at the ways in which the body and citizenship interanimate each other, the collection moves away from biocitizenship as a static form of biomedical subjectivity or category of belonging and redefines it as a dynamic and essential—sometimes generative, and sometimes limiting—element of biopolitics. The book has three primary goals: to serve as the first multidisciplinary forum on biocitizenship, bringing together a variety of voices from different fields (including voices from outside the academy); to redefine biocitizenship as a broad mode of political action linked to health, bodies, and life; and to critically interrogate both the “bio” and “citizenship” of biocitizenship.
Shelley Z. Reuter
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780816699957
- eISBN:
- 9781452955384
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816699957.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
Testing Fate looks at the racialized history of Tay-Sachs in the US and UK in its construction as a Jewish disease from the late-nineteenth century through to the present era of geneticization, where ...
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Testing Fate looks at the racialized history of Tay-Sachs in the US and UK in its construction as a Jewish disease from the late-nineteenth century through to the present era of geneticization, where people are increasingly expected to make the “right” kinds of medical-genetic choices, including the choice to be screened for genetic disease. Taking Tay-Sachs as its exemplar and with a view to exploring what these developments have come to mean for human agency, the book demonstrates that authentic, free choice in genetic-decision-making on one hand, and responsible biocitizenship in a context of exclusion on the other, are a contradiction of terms.Less
Testing Fate looks at the racialized history of Tay-Sachs in the US and UK in its construction as a Jewish disease from the late-nineteenth century through to the present era of geneticization, where people are increasingly expected to make the “right” kinds of medical-genetic choices, including the choice to be screened for genetic disease. Taking Tay-Sachs as its exemplar and with a view to exploring what these developments have come to mean for human agency, the book demonstrates that authentic, free choice in genetic-decision-making on one hand, and responsible biocitizenship in a context of exclusion on the other, are a contradiction of terms.
Shelley Z. Reuter
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780816699957
- eISBN:
- 9781452955384
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816699957.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
The conclusion of Testing Fate ties together the themes of the book and extends the argument of Chapter 5 by making the point that the “unfreedom” to fulfill one’s genetic responsibilities derives ...
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The conclusion of Testing Fate ties together the themes of the book and extends the argument of Chapter 5 by making the point that the “unfreedom” to fulfill one’s genetic responsibilities derives not only from the phenomenon of geneticization, but also from the paradox of ascribing agency to the Other. Biocitizenship is as much about responsibilization and the individual’s right to be unfree as it is about belonging; so long as some individuals’ freedoms are constrained by their cultural exclusion as the Other, or even where the freedom of some is contingent upon that exclusion, unconstrained agency, i.e., truly free choice, genetic decision-making is impossible.Less
The conclusion of Testing Fate ties together the themes of the book and extends the argument of Chapter 5 by making the point that the “unfreedom” to fulfill one’s genetic responsibilities derives not only from the phenomenon of geneticization, but also from the paradox of ascribing agency to the Other. Biocitizenship is as much about responsibilization and the individual’s right to be unfree as it is about belonging; so long as some individuals’ freedoms are constrained by their cultural exclusion as the Other, or even where the freedom of some is contingent upon that exclusion, unconstrained agency, i.e., truly free choice, genetic decision-making is impossible.
Jenell Johnson, Kelly E. Happe, and Marina Levina
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479845194
- eISBN:
- 9781479846306
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479845194.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
This chapter provides an overview of the current literature on biocitizenship. It begins by synthesizing the three dominant models of biocitizenship in earlier work: as collective redress for bodily ...
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This chapter provides an overview of the current literature on biocitizenship. It begins by synthesizing the three dominant models of biocitizenship in earlier work: as collective redress for bodily injury by the state; as a mode of biopolitical governance; and as a form of health activism. It then offers critiques of normative models of biocitizenship, and concludes with a brief discussion of each of the book’s chapters.Less
This chapter provides an overview of the current literature on biocitizenship. It begins by synthesizing the three dominant models of biocitizenship in earlier work: as collective redress for bodily injury by the state; as a mode of biopolitical governance; and as a form of health activism. It then offers critiques of normative models of biocitizenship, and concludes with a brief discussion of each of the book’s chapters.
Heather Aspell, Julie Cerrone, and Kirsten Schultz
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479845194
- eISBN:
- 9781479846306
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479845194.003.0011
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
This chapter includes reflective essays by patient activists regarding their own work that serve as responses to key concepts in the biocitizenship literature
This chapter includes reflective essays by patient activists regarding their own work that serve as responses to key concepts in the biocitizenship literature
Shelley Z. Reuter
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780816699957
- eISBN:
- 9781452955384
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816699957.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
The fifth chapter provides an overview of the developments leading up to community-based carrier screening for Tay-Sachs, which began in 1971, and explores the problem of agency in a context of ...
More
The fifth chapter provides an overview of the developments leading up to community-based carrier screening for Tay-Sachs, which began in 1971, and explores the problem of agency in a context of geneticized biocitizenship and responsibilization.Less
The fifth chapter provides an overview of the developments leading up to community-based carrier screening for Tay-Sachs, which began in 1971, and explores the problem of agency in a context of geneticized biocitizenship and responsibilization.
