Ordinary Genomes

by Taussig, Karen-sue

• ISBN13: 9780822345343
• ISBN10: 082234534X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Ordinary Genomes is an ethnography of genomics, a global scientific enterprise, as it is understood and practiced in the Netherlands. Keren-Sue Taussig's analysis of the Dutch case illustrates how scientific knowledge and culture are entwined: Genetics may transform society, but society also transforms genetics. Trussig traces the experiences of Dutch people as they encounter genetics is research labs, clinics, the media, and everyday life. Through vivid descriptions of specific diagnostic processes, she illuminates the open and evolving nature of genetic categories, the ways that abnormal genetic diagnoses are normalized, and the ways that Netherlands ideas about genetics are shaped by the desire for ordinariness and the commitment to tolerance, two highly valued yet sometimes contradictory Dutch social ideals, as well as by Dutch enable a social ideal of tolerance by demarcating and containing difference so as to minimize its social threat. It is within this particular construction of tolerance that the Dutch manage the meaning of genetic difference. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Karen-Sue Taussig is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction Science, Subjectivity, And Citizenship	p. 1
ôGod Made The World And The Dutch Made Hollandö	p. 17
Genetics And The Organization Of Genetic Practice In The Netherlands	p. 57
The Social And Clinical Production Of Ordinariness	p. 85
Backward And Beautiful: Calvinism, Chromosomes, And The Production Of Genetic Knowledge	p. 135
Bovine Abominations: Contesting Genetic Technologies	p. 159
Epilogue Ordinary Genomes In A Globalizing World	p. 189
Notes	p. 201
Bibliography	p. 217
Index	p. 233
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