Genes and the Bioimaginary

Genes and the Bioimaginary reflects on the rise and cultural apotheosis of the gene, examining the 'genetification' of culture and shedding light on emergence of the gene at the intersection of science and culture and as a product of science as culture. Employing a distinctive array of interdisciplinary analytic tools, it explores the rise of the gene in several respects: as a site of knowledge production crossing boundaries between the clinical-scientific and the popular; as a gateway technology and locus of transforming bioethical values and modes of bodily governance; and as site of spectacle, projective fantasy and attachment. With illustrative case studies across a range of genres including biomedical texts, peer review, science reportage, documentary film, television drama and literary fiction, this book explores genes and genetic discourse as sites of culture industry, and science as a site of cultural authorship, thus challenges the notion that culture - and cultural questions - are outside or epiphenomenal to the scientific enterprise. Engaging with contemporary questions in fields such as reproductive medicine, criminology and behavioural genetics, bioethics, aesthetics, disability, sexuality, and race and genealogy, Genes and the Bioimaginary will appeal to scholars and students working in the fields of sociology, science and technology studies, cultural theory, and media and cultural studies.