coursemapLoading course
School of Archaeology and Anthropology · ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
This course introduces anthropological perspectives on socio-cultural and politico-economic dimensions of emergent biotechnologies in biomedical research and clinical practice- ranging from assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF, human tissues such as stem cells, and pharmacogenomics such as for cancer prevention and treatment. Broadly, the course explores the sociocultural, ethical, risk, and regulatory issues that arise out of global biomedical applications of biotechnologies in a variety of transnational contexts. The course will consider how transformations in biological sciences influence clinical practice. Here, drawing from ethnographic studies, we will examine the extant role of molecular and genomic sciences in redefining medical care and patient decision about care. We will reflect on the relationship between genetic determinism and epigenomics in biomedical research and clinical practice. The course will also explore socio-cultural effects of the globalization of reproductive technologies and surrogacy services along with anthropological debates surrounding the medical market for eggs and sperm and the outsourcing of medical research and drug clinical trials. Here we will reflect on the relationship between pharmaceuticals, the global market, and public health. Throughout the course, we will be concerned with social implication of biotechnologies at the intersection of race, gender, class, and sexuality as we reflect on the unequal benefits and risks of biomedical research and the applications of biotechnologies. Students will be introduced to the anthropological and political economic analysis of medical tourism, reproductive tourism, and the politics of transnational organ transfer to reflect on questions such as: Why some patients cross national borders for care while other individuals are compelled to sacrifice their organs for the care of their family?
130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 36 hours of contact over 12 weeks: 24 hours of lectures and 12 hours of workshop and workshop-like activities; and b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.
Preliminary Reading Melinda Cooper and Catherine Waldby. 2014. Clinical Labor: Tissue Donors and Research Subjects in the Global Bioeconomy. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Joe Dumit. 2012. Prescription Maximization and the Accumulation of Surplus Health in the Pharmaceutical Industry. In In Lively Capital: Biotechnologies, Ethics, and Governance in Global Markets. Illana Löwy. Trustworthy Knowledge and Desperate Patients: Clinical Tests For New Drugs From Cancer to AIDS. In Margaret Lock, Allan Young, Alberto Cambrosio (eds). Living and Working with New Medical Technologies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 49-81. Rebecca Skloot. 2010. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Paperbacks/Random House. Nancy Scheper-Huges. 2000. The Global Traffic in Human Organs. In Current Anthropology 41(2):191-211. Kaushik Sundar Rajan. 2012. Introduction: The Capitalization of Life and Liveliness of Capital. In Lively Capital: Biotechnologies, Ethics, and Governance in Global Markets.