Publication details
Kristin´s adventures in wonderlab/ Recombinant DNA technology, biotechnological utopias and techno-futures
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The topic of genome editing (CRISPR/Cas9) echoes the general context of studies of science and technology, which have become imbued with analyses of visions of the future, “those creatures of the future tense,” when exploring the expectations, speculations, visions, hopes, prophecies, promises, and potentials as well as hype, pessimism, fear, and concerns in connection with recombinant DNA technologies. Specifically considering CRISPR/Cas 9 technology, the rhetoric about revolution, new promises, new breakpoints for humankind, and also fears and concerns have emerged recently. Using examples from ethnographic research, I will present analyzes of the recombinant DNA technologies context, specifically relations among scientists, their emotions and their utopian visions in connection with living “techno-others”, more-than-human companions. The talk shows the outcomes and initial results of an ethnographic study I conducted in a biochemical laboratory in the Czech Republic during 2017 and 2019 (under the project Artificial Life/Anthropological and Sociological Analysis of Life Engineering). The laboratory is focused on repair and recombinant DNA technologies and perspectives. |