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more 'genocentric age' in which 'biosociality' looms ever larger.
Biosociality
describes new modes of identification and association based on different
people's understanding of what they are, biologically speaking, and who
they might become (or themselves produce) with the assistance of biotech-
nological expertise. For instance, Rabinow noted that 'it's not hard to
imagine [future] groups formed around chromosome 17 locus 16256, site
654376 allele variant with a guanine substitution' (Rabinow, 1992: 244).
Relatedly, according to Nikolas Rose (2001), the discourses and practices
of molecular biology openly invite us to become knowledgeable about our
genetic connections to, and differences from, other individuals and groups.
We are, he maintains, further invited to
act
on this knowledge about our
'intrinsic natures' and thus take personal responsibility for our identifica-
tions and manage whatever 'risks' (and indeed 'opportunities') our genes
present to us or to our offspring (e.g. a biological disposition to have cystic
fibrosis).
I don't propose to evaluate the empirical robustness of these claims here.
Instead, what I take from Rabinow and Rose is the thesis that geneticised rep-
resentations of human nature have a high potential to alter existing senses
of 'I and you', 'me and them', identity and action. According to one com-
mentator, these representations are part of a wider 'biologism', that is to
say 'the growing ascendancy of biologically based accounts of human life'
understanding personal, family and geographical ancestry in Western soci-
eties. These approaches, showcased in television documentaries like
African
American Lives
(Public Broadcasting Service, 2006) and promoted by compa-
nies like the British-based Roots for Real (see
http://www.rootsforreal.com/
),
use genetic tests of mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA to identify the
evident in the new cottage industry of popular science topics devoted to
considering not
whether
but
how much
of our thought and behaviour is due
to 'nature' rather than 'nurture'. These topics range from the low brow,
such as dietician Neal Barnard's (2001)
Turn off the fat genes,
to sophisticated
interpretations of the latest scientific findings, such as Matt Ridley's (2003)
bestseller
Nature via nurture
.
Study Task:
Go online and spend some time examining the website of
a personal genetics and family history organisation, such as
Roots for Real
(
http://www.rootsforreal.com/)
. What overt and implicit connections are
you being invited to make between your genes, your relatives and your sense
of self? What actions on your part do the words and images on the site seek
to engender?
In summary, it may not be too much of an exaggeration to say that 'genes'
and 'the genome' have, in a variety of ways, become metonyms not only for
